Broken
by penguino3782
Summary: Set after 3.06. Mickey thought that it was bad when his father caught them. But, this...this is so much worse. Now everything is so broken and Mickey has no clue how to fix it.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N: Wow, is all I can say after watching 3.06. This idea came to me because I can't wait a week to see what happens next. I have no idea what lays ahead for Ian and Mickey now, but I wanted to put my own (angsty) spin on their future. This story does contain spoilers for 3.06, so if you haven't seen it and don't want to know what happens, turn away now. For everyone else, I hope you guys like it!**

**Broken-Chapter 1**

Mickey attempts to rub the sleep away from his eyes. Yeah, it's nearly fucking one in the afternoon, but he had a long night. Who is he fooling? The last couple of days have been rough. He's been on a bender for the last three days, ever since his father caught him and Ian. Ever since his father made him fuck that Russian slut in front of Gallagher.

His steady consumption of booze and drugs over the last couple of days has helped keep the look on Gallagher's face as he turned away from Mickey, while he was fucking that bitch out of his mind….sometimes.

Drinking is not the only thing that the ex-con has been doing since the shit hit the fan. To prove to his father that the Russian bitch really did fuck the faggot out of him he has fucked Angie and two other bitches, making sure to tell his brothers about it. He knows how big his fucking brothers' mouths are so there is no doubt that his father now knows about his latest conquests. Good. Because if his father believes that he is no longer gay, then he won't kill him. And if he's alive, he'll be around to make sure that his father doesn't kill Gallagher.

Fuck. Why does he feel the need to protect Gallagher? Fuck. He's never kissed anyone, but he kissed Gallagher. Just because the redhead said that the senior citizen wasn't afraid to kiss him. Mickey had to make sure that Gallagher was his, and not that old fuck's. _Damn you, Gallagher for making me feel….something for you. Making me feel scared shitless that my father is going to kill me if I can't keep up this charade that I'm now straight_. _Or worse yet, that he'll kill you_.

Even through the fuzziness of his hangover, the cruel words he spat at Gallagher after he fucked the slut in front of him run through his mind.

"_**Stay the fuck away from me, Gallagher. I don't want your faggy ass around me anymore. You come anywhere near me again, I'll kill you myself." Mickey bites out.**_

_**Ian looks away from Mickey as he spits out the redhead's worse fears. He quickly picks up his clothes off the floor.**_

"_**You heard him, get the fuck out of here!" Terry yells as he points his gun at Ian.**_

_**Ian hastily puts on his pants and runs to the door. Just as he reaches the door he turns back and gives Mickey a heartbroken look, the ex-con looks away because he can't bear to see the look in Gallagher's sad eyes. His father doesn't like the look on Gallagher's face either, but for a different reason. **_

_**A shot is heard and the door is slammed as Gallagher makes his exit. **_

That's the last time he has seen Gallagher. He called Linda and said that he needed a couple of days off. She didn't give him too much shit. Then again he has a feeling that it's because she knows that he too can't stand her fucking pussy of a husband. He said that he would come back today, knowing that Ian was scheduled to work the morning shift. Mickey is never on time, so chances are Ian will be gone before he even gets in.

Knowing that he needs to get his ass in gear, he gets out of bed and picks up a somewhat clean shirt off the floor. He makes his way into the kitchen to grab a beer, giving Mandy a grunt for a greeting. She rolls her eyes at him when she sees him opening a beer. "Jesus, Mickey. Have you had anything to drink that isn't alcoholic in a week?"

"Fuck off," he replies, giving his sister the finger.

Mandy has been in a shitty mood over the last couple of days. When CFS grabbed the Gallagher's Mandy not only lost her fuck buddy and best friend, she also lost her safe haven. Walking in on his son and Ian, sent Terry into a tailspin. He too has been on a bender, consuming a steady mix of speed and vodka.

Mickey finishes his beer in a few gulps and grabs another one. He's not in any huge hurry because he hopes Gallagher is gone before he makes it in to the Kash and Grab. He really doesn't want to deal with that awkwardness. As he takes a swig of beer, the door to the house slams open. With his back towards the door, he can't see who it is. Mickey instantly tenses, is his father home to catch some sleep before he goes out tonight?

The tension quickly evaporates when he sees his sister smiling. She never smiles when their father is around. When he looks up, he sees Lip in their living room. Mandy rushes to Lip and gives him a passionate kiss.

Mickey shakes his head. He already feels sick because of the large amount of alcohol he has drank over the last couple of days, and watching his sister suck off Lip Gallagher's face isn't helping. Luckily, Lip soon breaks away from Mandy. "Have you seen Ian?"

Mandy shakes her head. "Not since yesterday. Why?"

Mickey plays with the label on his beer bottle, feigning disinterest in the conversation that is currently occurring in his living room.

"He never came back to the home yesterday. I haven't seen him since yesterday morning when he left for work."

"Did you check the house?" Mandy asks.

From his place in the doorway he can see Lip shaking his head. "Fiona hasn't seen him. Ian's already in deep shit because he skipped out one night a couple of days ago."

Mickey looks down at the ground. Ian was here that night. That's why he wasn't at the group home. But, where the fuck is he now?

"How about the store?" Mandy asks hopefully.

Once again Lip shakes his head. "I already been there. Linda hasn't seen him since he left yesterday afternoon."

"Did you call the cops?"

Jesus, Mandy can be stupid sometimes. You don't call the cops when you're in the middle of a CPS investigation.

"Not yet. The last thing my sister needs when she goes up against CPS is a police report saying that Ian ran away from the group home. I'm going to look around some more. If I don't hear from him by the end of the day, I'm going to talk to Tony, off the record."

"Do you have to do your service hours?"

Lip gives her a smile. "I got an hour before I have to go back."

Mickey sees Mandy once again devour Lip's face in a rough kiss. She's pulling Lip towards her bedroom.

Mickey has seen more than enough and is at the door when Lip calls out over his shoulder. "Hey, if you see my brother, tell him to get his ass to the home by curfew."

Mickey nods his head and is out the door.

**XXXXX**

Mickey wakes up the next day, pretty much the same as he did yesterday and the two days before that, hungover. The only difference this time is that he feels a little less stressed. His straight act must be working because his father is out of town for awhile. For the first time in days he feels like he can finally breathe. The fear that his father is going to stop believing that he is no longer gay has lessened, at least for the time being. Now he can check in on Gallagher. Make sure that he's okay. Or will at least talk to him. Tell him that he only fucked that girl so his father wouldn't kill him or Gallagher.

Mickey is walking into the living room when Lip busts into their house. The fucker definitely has some balls to bust into their place. You never know if their father is around and if he is what shape or mood he's in.

"What the fuck, Gallagher!" Mickey yells.

Lip's breaths are short and fast. It looks like he's been running.

"You running from the cops or something?" Mandy says with a smile.

Lip shakes his head, still trying to catch his breath.

"Jesus, Gallagher. What the fuck has your tits in a twist?" Mickey asks.

Lip is finally catching his breath. His eyes are owlishly big. Mickey may not have passed one class at high school, but he's not stupid. Something is definitely wrong. Something has Gallagher spooked.

Then Gallagher takes a deep breath and in a rush says, "They found Ian."

**I know it's short, but it's just the beginning. I hope you guys liked it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Shameless.**

**A/N1: I hope you guys enjoy this update. Thank you to all who have reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story. It's your enthusiasm for this story that pushed me to update so quickly. **

**A/N2: I'm kinda nervous about posting this chapter because of the direction that I took the story. With that said the very last part of this chapter is triggery for a pretty sensitive subject. You've been warned.**

**Broken-Chapter Two**

"What do you mean 'they found Ian,' Lip. Who found him?" Mandy asks frantically.

"Tony came and told me at the group home," Lip begins to explain.

Mandy puts her hand up. "Wait, the cops found him? I thought that you didn't want to go to the cops because of DFS."

Lip is clenching his hands into fists, Mickey can see that Gallagher's getting frustrated with his sister's stupid fucking questions.

"Jesus, Mandy. Let him fucking talk!" Mickey growls.

Lip gives him a grateful look. "When Ian didn't come back to the group home again last night, I had no choice. I called Tony. He put in some calls to the hospitals." Lip takes a deep breath before he continues. "Someone matching Ian's description was brought into Mercy early yesterday morning."

Mandy shakes her head, "Wait, you said that someone matching Ian's description was brought into Mercy. You don't know for sure it's him. You told me that you guys aren't allowed to carry your wallets. So he didn't have his id on him. It probably isn't even Ian."

Mickey wishes that his sister is right. But, the look on Gallagher's face says otherwise. He doesn't know that much about Lip, but from what he has heard from Ian he knows that the older Gallagher would never come over and say something like that if there was even a smallest chance of it not being true.

"I saw him, Mands. It's him," Lip says quietly.

Mandy shakes her head back and forth in denial. "You can't be sure."

Lip slowly nods his head. "I am, Mandy. I recognized the scar on his shoulder."

Mickey knows instantly the scar Lip is talking about. He recalls seeing the jagged scar one time when Ian's back was towards him when he was putting his shirt on after they fucked. Mickey's eyes were transfixed on the jagged, fresh scar that marred Gallagher's pale and nearly flawless skin. The ex-con quickly looked away when he saw that Ian noticed him staring at his back at the time.

"_**Frank was high on meth and shoved me hard into the door. Vee had to stitch it up. Took ten stitches."**_

_**Mickey shook his head nonchalantly and replies, "I had worse."**_

_**Gallagher gives Mickey his patented shit eating grin, "I know you have, Mick."**_

Mandy's crying brings Mickey back to the present, no longer able to deny what she wanted so badly to believe isn't true. Lip takes her in his arms and makes eye contact with the ex-con.

That look says it all. The nervous look that was on Gallagher's face when he first barged in is now gone. It's replaced with one of… understanding. In that instant everything is made clear. Lip fucking Gallagher knows about him and Ian. Fuck! His hearing is going in and out. He vaguely hears his sister asking Lip how bad it is, but he doesn't hear Gallagher's response. Mickey needs to get out of here, and fast. He can't deal with this shit.

Over his sister's crying and Lip's attempts at calming her down, Mickey mutters "I have to get to work." Too wrapped up in their despair, the pair doesn't even acknowledge his exit. As Mickey quickly makes his way to the Kash and Grab all he can think of, is that Ian better be fucking okay. He doesn't want his last words to the redhead to be telling him to keep his faggy ass away from him. What's worse is that he doesn't want the last look Ian gave him to be the heartbroken look on his face when Mickey threatened to kill him. It reminds him so much of that time before when he told Gallagher they were done just before he set off to kill Frank. To think that just as before he said and acted like that In hopes of keeping Gallagher alive. But unlike before, this time it may have all been for nothing.

**XXXXX**

Mickey is nervously bouncing his leg up and down, trying to keep his mind off of Gallagher. A part of him wants to believe that Gallagher was attacked randomly by some fucker for kicks. But, another part of him is thinking it's something else entirely. Did his dad decide that it was too much of a chance to keep Gallagher around? That he may 'sway' Mickey back to the gay side? That Gallagher was just another loose end that needed to do away with?

He doesn't want to fucking be here, but where else could he go? He can't barge into the hospital, demanding to see Ian. How the fuck would he explain himself? And he can't lose this job. Linda was good about him missing a few days, but he doesn't know how much more leeway she's going to give him, especially now that Ian is laid up in the hospital for fuck knows how long. He needs this job for his parole. He needs to be out of juvie so that he can keep an eye on Gallagher, make sure he's safe. If his fears are right and his dad was the one that attacked Ian then it looks like he failed at that attempt.

The bell over the door signals someone just walked in. Mickey looks over to see Lip. Just fucking great.

"What the fuck do you want?" Mickey hisses as he walks over to the cooler and takes out a beer. If he has to deal with Lip's shit, he's gonna need a fucking drink.

"I'm shocked that you're here after the way you ran out of the house when I told you and Mandy about Ian," Lip says quietly as he too grabs a beer.

"Well, where else do you think I'll be?" Mickey bites out as he takes a sip.

Lip shrugs his shoulders. "Thought that you might be at the hospital."

Mickey rubs his bottom lip, "The hospital?"

Lip slams his beer down on the counter in frustration. "Yes, Mickey. The fucking hospital! I know about the two of you. I saw the look on your face back at your place, you know that I know! So stop the fucking act!"

Mickey at least has the decency to no longer feign confusion, but he doesn't say anything either. Maybe if he can ignore the huge elephant in the room, it'll go away. Even though he does want to know how firecrotch is doing. No wait, he needs to know how Ian is doing, but he still can't bring himself to ask.

Almost as if the Gallagher standing in front of him can read his mind, Lip asks "Do you want to know how he is? How bad?"

No, Mickey doesn't want to know how bad it is. But, he needs to. So he silently nods his head.

"He has a skull fracture, a broken cheekbone and nose. The fuckers broke five of his ribs and one punctured his lung. He has a broken collarbone, hand, and fingers. His ankle is really fucked up and they had to put pins and plates in it." Lip stops for a second and Mickey thinks that is the extent of Ian's injuries.

"There's more," Lip says.

More? What else could there possibly be?

"Apparently beating the shit out of him wasn't enough. They also cut him up pretty good. They nicked his small intestine and took a chunk out of his spleen. The docs had no choice but to remove it."

Mickey's hands are now into fists. He can't let his father get away with this. "I'm gonna kill him," Mickey snarls.

Lip raises his eyebrows and realization sets in. He knows who the ex-con is referring to. "Mickey, it wasn't your dad."

"How can you be so fucking sure?" Mickey asks angrily.

"Because after what your father saw, I don't think that it would have taken three days for him to go after my brother. If he wanted my brother dead he probably would have killed him on the spot."

_Yeah and he would have if I didn't get on top of my father and pulled him off of him, _Mickey thinks to himself_._ Lip doesn't need to know that though. The ex-con's eyebrows raise in question. "Your brother told you about that?"

Lip nods his head. "Yeah, well when he showed up at the group home with his face looking like he went a couple of rounds in the ring, I didn't let up until he told me."

Mickey shakes his head. "He shouldn't have fuckin' done that."

Lip snickers. "What shouldn't he have told me? The part where he was forced to watch you fuck a hooker to get the fag out of you. Or the part about the shit you said to him right before your father shot a bullet in his direction!" Mickey doesn't say anything because he knows that Gallagher is right about everything and he remains silent as Lip continues his tirade. "Unlike you fucking Milkoviches, we Gallagher's try and be as honest as we can with each other. I've known for a fucking long time about the two of you. I kept my fucking mouth shut because as much as I wished he would have fallen for someone else, he didn't. He fell for you and I knew that if anyone else found out, he'd be dead."

Lip is now quiet so Mickey thinks his rant might be over. He asks quietly, "You said it yourself if anyone else found out about us, he'd be dead. And my dad found out. How do you know for sure it wasn't him?"

Mickey can see Ian's brother take a deep breath. "They say that he was found outside of The Blue Room. It's a gay bar on the other side of town."

"So, that doesn't mean shit. My dad does leave the Southside sometimes," Mickey quips.

"Yeah, but they know for sure that it was more than one person."

"Two of my brothers have been MIA for two days," Mickey adds.

Lip closes his eyes. "That's not it. Trust me, Mickey. It wasn't your father or brothers who did this. So just stop thinking that it was."

"Trust you? Why? Because you're fucking my sister? I don't trust very easily, especially at the moment right now, Gallagher. I'm gonna kill whoever did this. I need to know who! I need to know if I'm gonna kill my father and my shithead brothers!"

With his eyes still closed, Lip shakes his head and repeats again "I'm telling you it wasn't your fucking father or brothers."

"How can you be so fucking sure?!" Mickey yells.

Lip is always running his mouth, the fact that he is staying mum about this means that there is something else going on. Something that he doesn't want to tell the ex-con.

"Just tell me why you know it wasn't my dad," Mickey asks again in a calmer voice.

Lip starts to chuckle lightly. "I wish I could say that it was your dad. Because then you would kill him, no questions asked and Ian would be safe."

Jesus fuck Christ, would Gallagher get it out already.

"Wish I could say it was your dad, but I can't."

"Why?" Mickey says for what feels like the hundredth time.

Lip finally looks Mickey right in the eye. "Because if your father made you fuck a girl to get the faggot out of you, there's no way in hell he or your brothers would have raped him."

**I'm now going to run for cover….I hope I didn't scare too many of you away.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N: I'm overwhelmed (in a good way ****) with the response that I have been getting for this story. You guys are the best! Thanks to all who alerted, favorited, and reviewed this story. I hope I don't disappoint with this new chapter, enjoy!**

**Broken-Chapter 3**

Mickey's mouth drops to the floor. He's sure that he probably looks like a fucking idiot. But to his credit, Lip knows enough to keep his mouth shut, for once. The two just stare at each other for a minute. Lip looks at Mickey uncertainly, almost as if he's afraid of what the ex-con might do. Mickey looks at Gallagher with a look of disbelief. There's no fucking way he heard right. There's no fucking way that Ian was…was. He can't even say it. But, the glazed look on Lip's face tells him that he heard him right. Ian was raped. Not just beat to hell and stabbed, but fucking raped as well.

Mickey's shock quickly switches to a feeling that he's much more familiar with. One that he prefers, anger. Rage fills him. His hands clench into fists. He knows Lip is right. His father didn't do this. With his father's fucked up way of thinking he would never do that. He'd be too afraid that he would turn into a fag. So, Mickey's anger zeroes in on someone else. Someone he can easily beat the shit out of.

"That old fucker left him at a gay bar that late at night. I'm going to rip that asshole's balls off," Mickey growls.

Lip shakes his head. "He wasn't with Lloyd. Hasn't seen him since he dug the bullet out of you in the middle of our kitchen."

"Then what the fuck was he doing there?" Mickey asks.

Lip gives him a hard glare, eyebrows raised. And it clicks. Lip doesn't need to say anything. The ex-con knows exactly why Gallagher went to that gay bar alone. Ian has always been sensitive, getting all mushy when he shouldn't. When Mickey said that they were done and told him he was nothing but a warm mouth, just before he went off to kill Frank, Ian stood there all upset and stuttering. Mickey only wanted to make sure that they lived another day. Fucking Gallagher didn't see it that way.

Mickey can only imagine what state Gallagher was in the last couple of days. Hell, he doesn't need to imagine. Whenever he closes his eyes, just before he passes out the heartbroken that was on Ian's face just before he ran out of his house flashes through his mind. He knows why Gallagher was at that bar. He was looking for something that Mickey couldn't give him because he was too afraid to stand up to his father

"Look, I'm not here to fight with you." Lip says. "It's not worth it. I don't want to fight with you. I don't have the fucking energy. I'm dealing with enough shit already," he says as he tiredly rubs his eyes.

Mickey looks at Lip and can literally see the exhaustion on his face. His hair is more disheveled than it usually is. There are large, dark blue bags under his eyes. Then again he has had a lot to deal with over the last week or so. Getting picked up by DFS, being shipped off to that group home that is more like juvie than a home, and now the fall out with his brother getting attacked.

Ian getting attacked is more than enough to put someone one edge. Not knowing where he was for nearly a day. Then finding out how brutally he was attacked. And of course having to tell their younger siblings what was going on must have been a nightmare. Even he knows how close the Gallagher siblings are. The younger ones must be a wreck. With all this in mind, he'll let Lip side and not bash his head in because of the look he's giving Mickey.

Lip clears his throat awkwardly. "I know that despite how you act and the shit you say that you do give a shit about him. You could have run off and left him with your father when he caught the two of you. But, you didn't. You stayed there and pried your father off of him." Lip stops for a second to look at Mickey making sure the ex-con is not going to hit him for what he just said. Satisfied that he's not going to get his faced bashed in, Lip continues. "And I know that you can't just turn that off. Despite what other people tell you or what you try and tell yourself. I think that it would be good for my brother to have you around. He's going to need all the help he can get to get through this."

Mickey stares at Lip. Can he do this? Can he stick by Ian after all that has happened? After what he went through? Hell, after he saw Mickey fuck that hooker? Can he forget about his father for a little bit to help Ian?

His silence must speak volumes because Lip gives him a small smile. "I gotta get going. I'm supposed to meet Fiona back at the hospital. Do whatever you want. If you do want to check on him, come by later tonight. Fiona's there now, but she'll probably be gone by seven or eight. She's on Frank duty. Has to make sure he's behaving himself"

Mickey still doesn't say anything and Lip takes that as a cue that he should probably get out of there before his luck changes and Mickey punches him in the face. Without another word, Lip leaves the store and Mickey is once again alone with his thoughts as his only companion.

**XXXXX**

Mickey is biting his fingernail as he gets off the hospital elevator. He's been fighting an emotional internal battle with himself ever since Lip left the store a couple of hours ago. Should he stay away from Ian and let his family help him heal? He can easily hear about how he's doing from his sister. Or can he say fuck what his father can do to him and to Ian for that matter and be there for him. After what Ian has already went through Mickey really doesn't know if things could get much worse for the redhead.

His father is out of town for at least a week. He can easily check in on Gallagher before his father gets back and his father will never know. He may not be able to hold Gallagher's hand and tell him shit like everything's going to be alright, but he can at least try and explain himself to Gallagher. Tell him why he did what he did. It was that thought that pushed him to venture down to Mercy and quietly ask the nurse at the information desk what room Ian is in.

His nerve is starting to wane as he nears room 412. But, he pushes on. Far too quickly he's standing outside the door to Ian's room. Taking a deep breath he walks slowly into the room. He was hoping that Ian would be alone. That way he can check on him and be out before anyone can see. But, as usual luck was not on his side. What the fuck else is new? Lip looks up from the chair he's sitting in by his brother's bedside when he hears Mickey's footsteps.

"You came?" He asks with a bit of awe in his voice. He probably thought that Mickey wouldn't show. But, then again you can't blame the guy if Ian told his brother half of what Mickey said and did to him.

Mickey shakes his head. "Didn't expect to see you here. Thought that hell hole has you on a short leash."

Lip shrugs his shoulders, "Yeah, it turns out that all it takes is one of their charges to get beat, stabbed, and raped on their watch to have them give you a little more breathing room."

Mickey shakes his head in understanding at Lip's fucked up explanation. "Your sister gone for the night?" The ex-con asks.

"Yeah, she's back at the house making sure that Frank is sober for their meeting with DFS tomorrow."

"Glad I'm not her," Mickey replies.

Lip gives him a small smile as he stands up. "Well, since you're here, I'm gonna go and meet up with your sister." He gently puts his hand on his brother's uninjured shoulder and gives it a squeeze. "See you later."

"Later," Mickey replies as Lip leaves the room.

Even with Lip gone, Mickey can't bring himself to sit in the chair by Ian's bed. "Fuck," he says out loud. Why did he come here? What could he possibly say to firecrotch that would make this situation alright?

But then he remembers what Lip said back in the store. "_I know that despite how you act and the shit you say that you do give a shit about him… You can't just turn that off. Despite what other people tell you or what you try and tell yourself."_ Damn Lip fucking Gallagher because he's right. He can't turn off how he feels about Ian. Even with the fear of his father finding out that he really isn't straight, he can't stop how he feels about Gallagher.

He slowly takes a step closer to Ian and sees the full extent of what those fuckers did to _his _Gallagher. You can tell by the rise in the blankets that it is his right leg that is fucked up. Ian's left shoulder is in a sling and a thick white bandage is covering his red hair. His face is a fucking mess. The nose swollen and bruised. The cheekbone that is closest to Mickey is grotesquely swollen and is a deep blue, almost black. That must be the broken cheekbone.

Even with the nasal cannula Ian's breathing is short and shallow, no thanks to the broken ribs he's got. Mickey is shocked that he's sleeping so soundly with all his injuries. But then he remembers how Ian was also stabbed in the guts. He remembers when his cousin took a bullet in the stomach a year ago, he was doped up to the fucking gills. No wonder why Ian is out like a fucking light.

Mickey finally takes the seat by Ian's bed. His eyes move from Gallagher's battered face to the hand that is closest to him. He sees that two of Ian's fingers are taped together, probably broken too. The nails on his other fingers are jagged, his knuckles bruised and swollen. Gallagher fought back. A small smile reaches the ex-con's lips. Mickey has the urge to put his hand on Ian's, but he can't bring himself to do it. It's not like he's afraid that anyone is going to see him. No one is there and Ian is passed out on some heavy duty narcotics. But, he can't. As fucking retarded as it sounds he doesn't want to hurt the redhead, like he could do any more damage to him. After what he said and did to Gallagher. After the hell Gallagher has been though.

It's more like Mickey is afraid that he's going to hurt himself. Can he just let Ian go after everything they've been through? It's bad enough that he still thinks about that quick kiss they shared in the can, but then holding hands. That's something else that he'll have to try and forget. So to save himself he instead puts his hands in his lap. He'll act like the selfish asshole that he knows he is.

While he's sitting at Ian's bedside, he's thinking about what he needs to tell Gallagher. Explain that he only fucked that whore to make his father happy. That he only said that shit to Gallagher to save their lives. That they need to end this before Terry changes his mind and kills them. All of these thoughts are running through his mind when his eyes pick up the gentle twitching of Ian's bruised fingers.

"Gallagher?" Mickey whispers.

**I hoped you liked this chapter. I hope you guys didn't get confused with Mickey's thoughts going back and forth. I purposely wrote it that way because he's supposed to be going back and forth. He's torn between what he wants and feels and his fear of his father. I already started outlining the next chapter so it shouldn't take that long to update, until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Shameless.**

**A/N: Thanks again to all you guys who are reading, alerting, favoritng, and reviewing this fic. It's you guys who push me to write on. Thanks again, I hope you guys like this chapter.**

**Broken-Chapter 4**

"Gallagher," Mickey whispers as he sees Ian's hand twitch.

Sure enough Gallagher begins to try and open his eyes. Ian struggles to look at Mickey for his right eye is completely swollen shut. He can't locate where the voice is coming from with only one eye so he tries to move his head to see who is talking to him. When he does a sharp pain shoots through his aching head. Much to his embarrassment he can't help but let out a moan. He squeezes his eye tight to try and keep out the pain.

"Jesus, take a easy, firecrotch. You're good."

Ian once again tries to open his eyes (or eye in this case). When he does he sees Mickey standing on the side of his bed. Not believing what he's seeing after the last time they were together he quietly asks "Mickey, is that you?"

The retardness of the question makes Mickey snicker. Really, who else would call Gallagher firecrotch?

"Yeah, who else do you think it would be? Fuckin' Santa Claus," Mickey smirks.

Gallagher can't hold back a smile, but it's soon followed by a whimper of pain. He closes his eyes to get composed, or more likely get the balls for what he's about to say. "What are you doing here? Ian says quietly, his voice cracking.

Mickey nervously rubs his bottom lip. He knew seeing Gallagher was going to be tough. Seeing the shape he's in with his own eyes was awful, but hearing him utter those broken words hurt him far more than his father's fists smashing into his face. "Don't make mw say why I'm here. You know…."

The redheaded Gallagher doesn't say anything, he just stares at the ex-con. Mickey thought that Gallagher's broken voice was like a knife to the gut. He was wrong, Ian's silence is so much worse. The older boy has never been good with words. Actions are how he got what he wants to say across. Putting his earlier reservations aside, Mickey hesitantly puts his hand over Ian's bruised one. Gallagher initially flinches, but stops himself.

Mickey sighs loudly, not at Gallagher but at him flinching. His flinching at the older boy's touch is just another slap in the face. Normally Gallagher would be smiling like a little fucking girl if Mickey touched him in anyway that wasn't associated with them fucking. He would have been over the moon that Mickey was the one who imitated. But not now.

"Sorry," Ian apologizes quietly, but his shoulders are still tensed.

"You don't have to apologize for shit," Mickey responds as he looks at Ian. He doesn't say anything and the two of them just look at each other. Ian has always been good at reading the ex-con's thoughts and he hopes that the concussion hasn't fucked with that. He hopes that Ian can tell what he's silently telling him. _I'm sorry about the other day. I had to say that shit to you. I had to fuck that bitch. He would have killed us both. Not just me. I'm so fuckin sorry for the shit that happened to you. Those fuckers are not gonna know what happened to them once I get my hands on them._

Ian must have gotten Mickey's silent confession because after a long minute the tension in his shoulders has lessened and he quietly asks "Should you be here? Your dad-"

"Is out of state with my brothers. My sister is with your brother doing whatever the fuck they do," Mickey answers. _So no one will know I'm here. Just relax. And if all goes right, those fuckers who did this will be dead before my family gets back into town. I know it doesn't make up for everything that has happened, but it's a start._

"I feel better now," Ian confesses as he lets out a loud yawn. The pain meds must still has him hazed over if the lopsided smile is any indication.

Mickey doesn't know if Gallagher is talking about the fact that Mickey will be safe for the time being or that he feels better now that Mickey's there. Whatever he means, Mickey doesn't pull away when Ian squeezes his hand as he closes his eyes and falls back asleep.

**XXXXX**

"I need you to do me a favor," Mandy says as she barges into the Kash and Grab the next day.

Mickey looks up from the box of melons that he's putting away. He leaves his task and grabs a RedBull out of the cooler. He's fucking exhausted. He stayed at the hospital until nearly two in the morning watching Ian as he slept in a medicated sleep. By the time he got home, his nerves were a little fried so he had a couple of beers to calm himself down. Needless to say eight o'clock came way too fucking fast. And now he has to listen to his bitch of a sister asking him to do her some fucking favor.

"What the fuck do you want me to do this time?"

Without hesitation, Mandy says "I want you to kill the assholes who attacked Ian."

Mickey looks at Mandy and can tell by the run mascara and puffy eyes that she's been crying. With everything that has been going on between him and Gallagher he sometimes forgets that the redhead is also his sister's best friend. He's been there for her when Mickey wasn't. And even though Mandy doesn't know the full story that led up to Ian being attacked, she still cares for him and wants the people who did it to pay. For once he and sister agree on something.

But, once again he has to play dumb. Of course he wants the ones who fucked with his Gallagher dead. But, he can't be open about it. There's no way he's gonna go snooping around that gay bar Gallagher was found outside of. No, for the moment he's going to let others find out who fucked up Gallagher. When he finds out the names of those fucks he'll take care of business.

"Really? How am I supposed to that? I have no names. Hell, I don't even know where he was attacked," Mickey says.

Mandy looks down for a second. "You don't need to know where he was when he got the shit beat out of him. I just need you to kill the fucks who did this."

Mandy doesn't say where Ian was. She's still protecting him. Making sure that his secret is safe. That no one knows he's gay. And in that instant Mickey can't help but truly love his sister, for protecting Gallagher. Mickey's disappointed that he didn't do as a good of a job as his sister has. He just wishes that he had the balls that Ian did to confide in her that he too is gay. But, this is neither the time nor the place.

"Lip talked to Tony. I guess there's a lot of DNA evidence. Ian put up a fight. There's kinda of a long wait, but Tony knows one of the lab techs and asked him to put a rush on it," Mandy explains.

Mickey bites his bottom lip. He knows without a doubt that Gallagher put up one hell of a fight, he's too stubborn not to. That would explain a lot of the DNA evidence, and he really doesn't want to think about where else the DNA evidence came from.

"You get me the names, consider it done." Mickey promises.

Mickey gives him a small smile. "Really? Just like that? I thought that I would have to bribe you or something."

The ex-con shrugs his shoulders. "Nah, your birthday is coming up and I didn't get you shit last year for Christmas since I was in Juvie. This will be your gift."

Fuck, his family is fucked up. Killing people as token a of affection. But, then again that is the Milkovich way. And he was planning on doing it anyway, so he'll make his little sister happy.

"Just throw in a couple of cases of beer and we'll be good," He says.

Mandy's smile gets even bigger. "Okay, I'm gonna go visit Ian. I'll see you later assface."

Mickey gives her the finger as she exits the store. With her sister out of sight he starts thinking about some pressing matters, mostly how is he gonna fuck up those assholes.

**XXXXX**

"Hello?!"

Mickey swears under his breath from the cooler. He can't get shit done with all these people fucking interrupting him. As he exits the cooler he sees that it's Lip who was calling him.

"What the fuck do you want, Gallagher?"

Lip grabs two beers from the cooler. He hands one to Mickey."I know that Mandy talked to you about fucking up the assholes who attacked my brother."

Mickey gratefully takes the offered beer. "And?"

"I want to go with you when you do it."

Mickey instantly shakes his head, "No, no fucking way. I work alone." That was mostly a lie. He doesn't know how many are involved and normally he would like to have some extra help on hand for matters such as this, but he can't risk it this time. First off, he usually fucks up people with his brothers and two are MIA. So that won't work. And even if they were around he wouldn't ask them to do this. They would run their mouths off and Mickey doesn't want his father getting wind that he and his brothers beat Gallagher's rapist/attackers to a fucking pulp.

But, that's not the only reason why he wants to do this alone. Firecrotch would freak the fuck out if he heard that Lip was part of Mickey's plan for retribution. He's heard both his sister and Ian bitching about how the young genius is going to piss his chance to get out of the South Side away. If Lip wants to fuck up on his own that's one thing. But, Mickey wants no part of it.

"Come on, Mickey. I know that you're probably already thinking of what you're going to do to them. I just want to be part of that. He's my fucking brother. I was the one that had to tell Carl and Debbie because Fiona was at the hospital waiting for word because Ian was in surgery for five hours. I was there when Debbie cried and wanted to know why this happened. I just want to be part of it."

Mickey's too fucking exhausted to argue at the moment so he relents. And it would be good to have an accomplice. They'll just have to keep it a secret from Ian and Mandy.

"Fine, but I'm running this gig. You never done anything like this before and I don't need to get my ass caught. Better yet, I don't need your brother and my sister pissed at me because you're behind bars."

"Fair enough," Lip says with a nod.

"So, what do you know?" Mickey asks. "How about the DNA at the scene?"

Lip takes a sip of his beer. "They just did preliminary tests for now. They found three other donors on Ian. They're broadening the search so hopefully we should have some names by the end of the day."

"Good. Can't do anything until we have names."

Lip nods his head. "Are you going to visit him today?"

Mickey nods his head, "Yeah, probably later. Why?"

"Don't go down there for awhile. My sister was able to get emergency visitation with Deb and Carl. She's taking them to see him right about now. I just didn't want you to have an awkward run in."

Mickey can't help but roll his eyes. Running into Ian's family is the least of his worries. That would be a walk in the park compared to his father waking in on them a couple of days ago. But, he appreciates Lip's concern. That would be awkward. How the fuck would he explain to Fiona why he was there at the hospital visiting Ian?

"Thanks man, I'll head down there later."

Lip drinks the last of his beer and throws a couple of bills on the counter to cover both of their drinks. "I'll call you when my siblings leave." Lip goes to the door and before he exits he turns back around. "Don't forget, don't do anything stupid without me. I really don't want to tell my brother that you're back in jail because you went off half cocked. You and I are in this together. He has more than enough shit to deal with."

Mickey nods his head in agreement as Gallagher leaves the store. That was probably one of the easiest things he's agreed to over the last couple of days. He knows that both he and Lip could go off and do something fucking retarded leaving Mandy and Ian to pick up the pieces. Maybe two heads will be better than one and they can both stay out of prison. In the mean time until he got actual names or the okay to go to the hospital, Mickey's going to start to make their plan. Knee caps first and then face? Or should they just cut them like they did to Ian? A small smile comes to Mickey's face as he thinks of a faceless asshole clutching his stomach in pain as Mickey takes a swing at him with his baseball bat. Now this is something that he is much more comfortable with.

**I know this chapter had a lot going on, but I hope you like it. Don't worry there will be more Ian and Mickey interaction in the next chapter and good news, I'm already have way through writing the next chapter..**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I wish I did, but I don't own Shameless.

**A/N1: I hope you guys are still reading/enjoying this, because I noticed that the number of reviews for this story has dwindled a lot since I first started. For those of you who still are, I hope you guys like this update.**

**Broken-Chapter 5**

The last thing that Mickey wanted to see was Lip sitting beside his brother's hospital bed. All he wanted to do was see how Gallagher was doing before he would return home and get completely hammered before he would pass out for the night. But, he's Mickey Milkovich and he very rarely gets what he wants, unless it was by force. And the few times he does something soon after happens and obliterates any sort of happiness he had.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Mickey barks.

"I wanted to talk to you before I left," Lip responds.

"We did enough talking back at the store. I thought when you texted me that your siblings were gone that you wouldn't be here either."

Ignoring Mickey's comment, Lip continues. "Remember what we talked about earlier?"

As if he would forget. He's been thinking about that all day. In fact it was his intricate planning of revenge that kept his mind off of his fear of his father and the broken way Gallagher talked to him the day before. Mickey nods his head at Lip. "Yeah, I remember."

He really doesn't want to talk about this in front of Ian. Mickey knows that the redhead will get pissed if he hears of their plan. Gallagher always got nervous about the ex-con fucking up his probation. Take that and combine it with Lip potentially fucking up his future, he knows that Gallagher would be totally pissed at them and the redhead has more than enough shit to deal with at the moment.

So talking about their plan of revenge as they're standing right beside Ian's bed is a fucking bad idea. But, then Mickey looks down to see that Gallagher is completely out of it. His head is tilted away from them, but Mickey can still see that his mouth is slightly open and there's a small line of drool running down his chin.

"Don't worry, he's out. He's not gonna hear shit." Lip confirms in a volume that is not a whisper in the slightest.

"What the fuck did they give him? A fucking horse tranquilizer?" Mickey asks as he rubs his bottom lip with his thumb.

Lip laughs. "Close, but no. Everyone being here and a recent dose of pain meds knocked him out for the count."

"How was he?" Mickey asks as he takes the seat on the other side of the bed.

Mickey can't miss the sad look on Lip's face. "Okay, I guess. But, he was definitely overwhelmed."

Fuck yeah, Gallagher was overwhelmed. Having four of his siblings, probably that preppy ass who's dating Fiona, and his Mandy in his small ass hospital room is enough to put anybody on edge. "Why do you think so?"

"He nearly jumped out of his skin when Debs went to hug him."

The Gallagher's were too damn touchy feely for their own good. A hug is the last thing Ian wants right now. He jumped a mile when Mickey touched his hand. "Why the fuck would she do that? Doesn't she know what happened?"

"She doesn't know…..everything," Lip says and Mickey knows exactly what Ian's younger sister doesn't know and he's glad about that. Growing up in the neighborhood they did, the kid knows way too much for someone her age. Even so, no kid should know the full extent of what Ian went through.

Lip runs his hand through hair. "They haven't seen him since DFS took us. After seeing how Deb was when I told her about Ian being attacked, I didn't think she could take hearing the full story."

Before he even realizes it Mickey says, "It was probably a good thing you didn't." He thinks about how the Gallagher's protect each other as much as they can and knows that Lip did the right thing. "Your brother would be pissed if you told her. Does Mandy know?"

Lip looks down, avoiding looking at Mickey. "I told her."

Knowing that Gallagher is still out and hasn't moved at all since he came into the room, Mickey raises his voice. "What the fuck, Gallagher! What would possess you to do that?!"

"She's his best fucking friend. She would have figured it out soon enough. At least she knows now and can be there for him now that she knows the full story," Lip says defensively.

"I'll tell you right now she better not say anything fucking stupid. I don't care if she's my sister or that you're fucking her," Mickey replies.

Lip shakes his head. "She's not going to say anything stupid. Your sister cares a lot about him. She was his fucking beard so that no one woud figure out he's gay. She would never do anything to intentionally hurt him."

Yeah, but his family has the tendency to hurt people even when they don't mean to.

"You better be right about this." But, before Mickey can finish what he's about to say, Lip's phone goes off. "I thought that the group home you're staying in made you turn in your phone."

Lip ignores Mickey as he's looking at his phone. "Yeah and I thought that you weren't suppose to have a gun since you're on probation."

"Fair enough," Mickey says. Lip does have a point.

"Well, I gotta go."

"What the hell has you in such a hurry? I thought Mandy was with your sister taking your brothers and sister out for dinner."

"She is. That wasn't her. It was Tony. The DNA results came back. He has something for us. I'm going to meet him back at the house."

Finally, Mickey can do something besides sitting around with his thumbs up his ass. His eagerness must show for Lip tells him, "Stay here. Tony is gonna know we're definitely up to something if you're with me."

Mickey nods his head in defeat. "Fine then. I'll meet up with you tomorrow so we can strategize."

Lip gives a quick nod and leaves the room a few seconds later, leaving Mickey once again with a sleeping Ian.

**XXXXX**

It's a combination of the sounds o the many machines attached to Gallagher, lack of decent sleep, and images of him and Lip busting the fuckers who attacked Ian that lulls him to sleep.

But that comes to an abrupt end when Mickey gets the distinct feeling that he's being watched. His head jerks up in alarm and he takes a quick look around the room making sure that Mandy or no other Gallagher's had made an appearance during his impromptu nap time. Satisfied that there's no one else in the room but Gallagher, he closes his eyes in relief and leans back in the uncomfortable chair.

"Mickey?"

The ex-con squints his eyes to see a confused Ian looking at him.

"Why are you so fucking surprised to see me?"

Ian lets out a loud yawn. Mickey can't help but wince when Gallagher tiredly rubs his bruised face with his good hand.

"Didn't expect to see you. Thought Lip would be here."

"He had some stuff to take care of."

Ian's good eye grows large in alarm, "Everything okay? The kids-"

"Are fucking alright," Mickey interrupts.

"What did Frank do this time?" Ian asks with a sigh.

"Nothing besides being a fucking waste of space. His usual."

"Then what does Lip need to do?" Ian asks tiredly.

And just like all those times in the past, Ian can read Mickey's silent thoughts. That and he knows his brother way too well. For he understands exactly what Mickey isn't saying. With his good arm he tries to sit up in bed, forgetting about the concussion and the major surgery he had on his stomach. He pushes through the pain and grabs hold of the older boy's hand. "You can't let him do anything stupid!"

Mickey looks into the bruised face, the good eye that is dazed with pain and fear. He tries to look away, he can't lie to Gallagher. Not when he's like this.

As if sensing Mickey's Achilles heel Ian grabs Mickey's hand harder, "Say something, Mickey!" The redhead's breaths are now hitching, the combination of over exertion and the previous injuries too much on the battered body. "He can't go off by himself. He's too reckless. I won't be there to back him up."

Mickey attempts to pry Ian's hand off of his own. "Easy, Gallagher. He's not gonna go off on his own and do anything stupid." For the moment the ex-con words has the desired calming effect and Ian lays back down, his breaths evening out.

But, then almost as if a light bulb went off, Ian sits up abruptly clutching his injured stomach. "No! You can't! You both are gonna end up in jail. I can't… I can't." Ian trails off as the color of his face changes from a bet rate out of despair to a sickly pale white.

"What the fuck, Gallagher." Mickey says as he looks at the younger boy. Something isn't right here.

But, Gallagher isn't saying anything. Or more like he can't say anything. He's too busy trying to get his lungs to work properly. Trying to breathe through the pain, gulping for air.

"easy, fucking breathe, Gallagher."

Mickey looks down and sees that Ian is clutching his injured stomach. Ian has his good arm firmly pressed against his stomach, as if he trying to harness the pain. The whiteness of his hand is a stark contrast to the red that is dripping through his fingers

"Oh fuck, Gallagher!"

Before his mind can even think to call a nurse because fuck Ian is bleeding in front of him. Probably tore something in his gut. Loud alarms begin to go off and several medical people come rushing in barking out fucking retarded questions, pushing Mickey out of the way.

"What happened, here?"

"Ian, move your hand. Let me see."

But Ian isn't listening. With what little strength he has he's trying to move towards Mickey. "You can't…can't. I don't want…"

A doctor attempts to hold Ian's arm as he reaches out for Mickey. Gallagher's reaction is immediate when he feels the alien hands on him, trying to get him to calm down, his body jerking away from the nurses' touches. "Don't touch me! Get your fucking hands off me!"

Instead of calming down, Ian is more worked up. He's literally scrambling to get away from the hands that are trying to help him.

"Ian, come on kiddo. I need to see your stomach. See the damage." A nurse says.

Another nurse adds, "Come on, honey. You have to stop moving. You're only going to hurt yourself worse."

Mickey can't take it anymore. He pushes his way towards the bed, where Ian can see him and barks out "Calm the fuck down, Gallagher."

"Don't…don't. I need…." Ian says brokenly as he all but collapses back onto the bed, staring at Mickey with tears running down his face.

"There you go, Ian." Dr. Palmer says calmly (at least that's what his name tag says) as Mickey looks away from Ian's tear streaked face to see the middle aged doctor injecting something into Ian's IV.

Now that Ian is more docile, the nurses move in and pull back the arm that has been pressed against his stomach. His energy is spent as he lays there, no longer fighting the helping touches. But his mutterings still continue. "Don't touch me. Please. Don't touch me," Ian begs in a quiet, slurring voice.

Jenna, a petite nurse in her twenties gently hushes the teenager. "Shhh, honey. You're okay. We'll fix you up. Just rest."

Mickey wants to laugh in the nurse's face. Like they can really fix this. Sure, maybe physically. But, that's about it. Gallagher's pleas not to touch him and his fucking freak out because of the sudden touches is not going to be fixed by whatever they are currently pumping through Gallagher's IV.

"Don't do it, Mick." Ian says as his heavy lidded eye closes, his body going limp.

Mickey moves away from the hospital bed as the nurses and doctor tend to a now unconscious Ian. Fuck! He thought that his dad catching them was bad. And it was. He hated that he had to fuck that Russian bitch. Hated that he had to play his dad's sick game. But, at least he was able to do something about that. He knew what he had to do to get him and Ian out of there alive. But, _this_. He really has no idea of what to do to fix this. And that's what scares him the most of all.

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please let me know. The lack of reviews has me writing a bit slower than I was when I first started this. I think that other authors would agree, reviews are what keeps us going. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N: Thanks for all the awesome reviews. You're the best! Hope you guys enjoy the update.**

**Broken-Chapter 6**

"What the fuck Happened?!" Lip hollers as he barges into the Kash and Grab.

Mickey lifts his aching head, a gift from the large amount of alcohol he drank last night after leaving Ian in the hospital, and gives Lip a death glare.

"What the fuck is your problem, Gallagher?" Mickey responds in an annoyed voice.

"I don't know, Mickey. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that when I left you with my brother he was zonked out on pain meds. Next thing I know Fiona is banging on the door of the group home, demanding to see me because Ian ripped out his fucking stitches and had to be sedated!" Lip rants.

"Screw you, Gallagher. You weren't fucking there!" Mickey bites back.

"No, I wasn't. Because I was meeting with Tony to find out what I could about the assfucks who attacked Ian."

An irritated Mickey puts his hands in the air. "Ding, ding, ding. That's exactly what caused your brother to have a fucking meltdown."

One of Lip's eyebrows rises in confusion. "I didn't say anything about what I was up to."

Mickey rolls his eyes. He knows Lip and Ian are close. A hell of a lot closer than he is with any of his brothers. How did Lip not see that Ian would have figured out what his older brother had planned? But, then again Lip is probably not thinking a 100% like he usually is. Having your brother get the shit beat out of him will do that. And that's exactly why there's no way in hell Mickey is gonna let Gallagher go off on his own on to go after the shits who put Ian in the hospital. He'd fuck up, and Ian will have to deal with guilt on top of the shitstorm he's already facing. Plus, he'd have to deal with a pissed off Mandy to boot.

"You didn't have to. He figured it out on his own when you weren't there and I opened my fucking mouth saying that you had something to do. He put two and two together."

Lip runs a hand through his hair. "Shit. That's what happened?"

Mickey lets out a loud sigh and nods his head. "He fucking freaked when he figured out that what you were up to. Then he got hysterical when he realized that I'm planning on going along for the ride. He's all fucking paranoid that you're gonna end up in jail and my ass is gonna end back in Juvie. He ripped out his stitches when he tried to get out of bed. When the nurses tried to see the damage he went apeshit because they kept touching him. They had no choice but to fucking sedate him," Mickey finishes.

He rubs his eyes tiredly with his fist. By retelling the story, images of Gallagher trying desperately to get away from the hands that were trying to help him and his pleas not to be touch pulls at Mickey's gut. "How is he now?" the ex-con asks quietly.

Lip shakes his head sadly. "I haven't been able to see him. When he ripped his stitches, he tore something internally. They had to take him back into surgery to repair the damage. He's been in ICU since last night."

Lip stops there for a moment almost as if giving Mickey time to digest everything he has said. When he feels that ample time has passed he continues. "Needless to say Fiona is freaking out big time. They told her that Ian can't afford to get upset like that again. Every time they take him back into surgery, he's put in greater risk of getting an infection. That's the last thing he needs because his immune system is for shit since they took out his spleen."

Mickey nods his head. In simple terms, Gallagher can't afford to have another meltdown because his system is already shot to shit. But, from the look on Lip's face he can tell that once again there's more, something else that he really doesn't want to tell the ex-con but knows he has to. "Just spit it out already. I know there's something else."

Lip inhales deeply before he continues. "The hospital didn't go into specifics with my sister about Ian's meltdown. But, they did tell her you were there."

Mickey swallows nervously. Fiona knows he was there visiting Ian. Just fucking great. She's probably blaming him for sending her brother back into the OR. That he can deal with. He doesn't really give a shit about what Gallagher's pitbull of a sister thinks may have happened in that room. But, that's better than the other alternative that she figured out that he and Ian are on good enough terms that Mickey actually visited him in the hospital. Or worse, did she figure out the truth about the two of them?

Sensing Mickey's nervousness Lip changes the subject. "So we got something. According to Tony one sample of DNA found on Ian came back to a Joey Verullo. He has a couple of priors for assault. Another sample didn't have any results, but it's close enough to Verullo to make the cops think that it was his brother. There was another sample, but that came up empty."

Mickey takes a deep breath, concentrating on what Lip just said. Ignoring his fear of what is going on in Fiona's head. He has a job to do. Mickey quirks his eyebrow, silently telling Lip to continue.

"I guess there was another attack like Ian's. Some guy was found at another gay bar. It was another teenager from another side of town."

Lip doesn't need to explain further. Two gay kids from the wrong side of the tracks getting raped and having the shit beat out of them are probably not on the top of the cops' priority list right now.

"Tony is doing what he can, but I don't have that much faith in the legal system. It fucked us over plenty of times." Lip says with a sarcastic laugh.

Mickey nods his head in understanding. They both aren't stupid. They now how these things work. Ian will never agree to testify, too afraid to out himself to the rest of the neighborhood. The cops don't seem to be in any real rush to investigate. So those fucks will probably get off. Mickey and Lip can't let that happen.

"So we do it our way then," Mickey says simply.

Lip smiles, "My sentiments exactly."

**XXXXX**

Mickey lumbers his way to the desk that is in the middle of the ICU. He feels like a fish out of water being here, but he needs to be. He has to check on Gallagher. See if he's still sedated, see if he's okay. He's only here during daylight because he knows that Mandy is with Lip and Gallagher said that Fiona was on Frank duty today because it was disability day. And he even knows that Fiona will never bring Frank to the hospital to see Ian, especially after the doctors said that the redhead had to remain calm.

"Can I help you?" A nurse named 'Anna' asks.

Mickey shrugs his shoulders trying to look nonchalant. "I'm looking for Gallagher. I mean Ian Gallagher."

"Do you know if you're on the list?" Anna asks as she picks up a clipboard.

List? What fucking list? Lip didn't say anything about a fucking list? Mickey looks at her in confusion.

Anna gives him a small smile. "Since this is ICU. The family makes a list of people who can visit. Do you know if you're on it?"

Mickey bites his lip. Not fucking likely. There's no fucking way Lip would open his mouth and tell Fiona to put his name on it. If she's anything like her brothers she's ask way too many fucking questions. How would Lip explain that one away, especially after he was there when Ian freaked out?

"He's Mickey. He's on the list," A small quiet voice says from across the room.

Mickey turns to see that the voice was Fiona's. He stares at her dumbly. What. The. Fuck. She tilts her head to towards the small bench that's near an ICU cubicle. The ex-con numbly makes his way over, his legs shaking like jello. He takes a seat next to her. She turns to look at him, but his eyes look down towards his beat up work boots.

Like her brothers, Fiona must know that Mickey is not going to talk first, so she begins. "Just promise me one thing."

Mickey gives her a questioning glare out of the corner of her eye. She barely knows him and she wants him to promise her something. Man she has fucking balls.

"Promise me that you're not gonna do anything that could put you back behind bars. Ian's gonna need all the help he can get to get through all... this," Fiona says sadly,gesturing with her hands.

Mickey can't really promise that. He can tell her what she wants to hear, but he can't promise that it won't happen, that it's very likely that the promise could very well go right out the window when he meets up with those fucks who put firecrotch in the hospital. He says quietly, "I'll try. No promises though."

Almost as if she's anticipating the response, she gives him a small, tired smile. But as quick as it appears, it vanishes. They sit there for a couple of minutes. Then Fiona takes the initiative. "Just so you know, Ian didn't tell me. No one did, I figured it out on my own."

Mickey doesn't respond to Fiona's admission. She figured it out about the two of them. Were they that fucking obvious? He should probably consider himself lucky that his father didn't find out sooner and that his siblings still don't know. Mickey has kept his eyes on the floor up until now because he was too afraid that Fiona would see something in his face and know about his feelings for the redhead. Now that his secret is out, he finally looks up from the floor and looks straight ahead.

"Didn't realize that we were that fucking obvious," Mickey finally says quietly.

Fiona gives him a nervous laugh, the same nervous laugh that Ian has. "It's not like that Mickey. I probably know him better than he knows himself. It was a bunch of small things. Like how depressed he was during the same time you were in Juvie the first time, after Kash shot you. You two working at the same store that you always stole from. The funk he was in last fall, right before Monica came back, when you were in juvie the second time. Then there's the time that I walked in on Jimmy's dad pulling a bullet out of your ass in the middle of my kitchen."

Mickey inhales deeply. He can see how Fiona figured it out. Gallagher said that his sister said she knew he was gay before he even told her. She picks up on things.

"And the fact that you were there when he had his panic attack. That pretty much sealed the deal for me," she finishes with s small smile..

The two sit there in silence for a few minutes. Neither one knowing what to say next, both looking straight ahead. Fiona started the conversation last time, Mickey figures it's his turn to start the conversation.

"Well, isn't this just fucking great. I hope Mandy doesn't have the same sister intuition that you do. I really don't want to hear her bitching about how me and her 'ex boyfriend' are fucking."

Fiona turns and gives the ex-con a small, but genuine smile. "Don't take this the wrong way, Mickey, but Mandy's a little self absorbed. She lives in her own world where she is the center. If it is not completely centered around her, I doubt that she's interested."

Normally, someone saying shit like that about his sister would get his blood boiling. But, not today. Probably because he knows Fiona is right. Mandy hasn't put together that he and Ian are more than friends. He knows damn well that if she knew she would have tracked him down by now, demanding answers

Mickey would love to hightail it out of here after having this way too emotional conversation, but he feels like he kind of owes it to Gallagher's sister to stick around. She obviously has known or at least suspected for a while about him and her brother and has kept her mouth shut, she can obviously be trusted. Then the fact that she put his name on the approved list of visitors tells him that she doesn't outright hate the fact that he is with her brother. Not that he really cares if she did. What he and Ian are is no one else's fucking business

"So, I thought that you were on Frank duty. Today being disability day and all," Mickey says.

Fiona looks at him in confusion.

"Lip told me," Mickey explains.

Fiona rolls her eyes. "Of course, Lip knew about the two of you," she says with a hint of hurt in his voice. But she quickly regroups. "I left him with Kev. He would be better at keeping him in check than Jimmy."

Now it's Mickey's turn to roll his eyes. He's seen Jimmy around. He looks like a fucking pussy. And all he can think of is how Gallagher was fucking Jimmy's father.

"I could only imagine how you felt when you heard about Lloyd and my brother," Fiona comments.

Is he really doing this? Talking to Gallagher's sister about his reaction after hearing about her brother's fuck buddy relationship with her boyfriend's closeted father. Luckily, he has no chance to respond before a doctor comes out of the cubicle that they're sitting outside of.

"Excuse me, Fiona?"

Fiona turns and stands up. "Hi, Dr. Palmer. How is he doing?"

Dr. Palmer gives her a reassuring smile. "His stitches are holding and so far there is no sign of fever. So, he's looking a lot better. We have started to lighten the sedation so he should be waking up within the next couple of hours. If he continues to approve he will be moved out of the ICU by the end of the day."

Both Mickey and Fiona let out a sigh of relief.

"But, remember." He turns to the ex-con and must have remembered that he was in the room when Gallagher had his freak out. "He cannot afford another episode like he had yesterday."

Mickey gives the prick doctor a death glare, but Fiona tries to soothe things over with a smile. "Got it, doc. We'll make sure he stays calm."

When Fiona says "we", something in Mickey twitches, something calming. She's not gonna be a bitch and tell him to stay the fuck away from her brother. That he's no good for him. That makes him feel better. Feel like that's one less battle he has to fight.

"Good, I'll check in on him later," And with that the doctor quickly exits.

Fiona turns to Mickey after the doctor is out of sight. "I'm gonna call Jimmy and Lip to fill them in."

Mickey nods his head and looks into the cubicle. Fiona tilts her head towards where her brother is and gives him a small smile. As she passes by him she squeezes his shoulder reassuringly.

There was no audience there now so he slowly makes his way into the ICU cubicle. The monitors that are attached to Gallagher are at a much slower, calming beat than they were the last time he saw the redhead. Of course Ian is still out, but this time his head is towards Mickey giving him a better view of his battered his face. Jesus, he still looks like shit. The bruises are still vivid in color. Gallagher's cheek is still swollen, just not to the extent it was.

Mickey stands by Ian's bedside. He knows that Fiona is gonna be back any second, and he doesn't want her to see him doing some touchy feely shit like holding her brother's hand. He turns around to make sure that the close is clear. Satisfied, he quickly and gently cups the side of Ian's face that isn't as bruised, "You better not do that shit again, got it?"

Of course Ian doesn't answer. He sits down in the chair that's by Ian's bed and puts his feet up, carefully avoiding kicking the injured redhead. "Thanks to that little show, your sister figured us out. I thought the Arab asshole catching us was bad, I was wrong. Her asking me how I felt about you sleeping with her boyfriend's father. Now that was really fucking awkward."

Ian remains silent and that is fine with Mickey. Ian has always talked way too much. He knows damn well that Ian is gonna want to talk about shit when he's somewhat more coherent. Until then he might as well enjoy the peace and quiet when he can. So, he leans back in the chair letting his head fall back against the back of the chair, letting the sounds of Ian's reassuring deep breaths and heart monitor lull him to sleep .

**I know it was awhile, between real life and then the heart wrenching episode last Sunday. I did some one-shots because th**e **plot bunnies wouldn't leave me alone. But, don't worry I'm back! Hope you guys liked it!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N: Here's another update for you guys. Thanks again for reading reviewing, alerting, and favoriting this. **

**Broken-Chapter7**

After years of waking up at the slightest noise, usually because said noises were usually a telltale sign of trouble in the form of either drunken/high brothers or father. So it's no real surprise that Mickey's head jerked when he heard rustling coming from the hospital bed. His sleepy eyes look to finds Ian's head moving back and forth against the pillow.

"Hey there, Ian. You ready to join us?"

Mickey whips his head to see that Fiona is sitting in a chair next to him. Fuck can this get any more awkward. He quickly moves his eyes back to Ian and sees that the redhead's good eye is looking at them. The ex-con can't help but let out a bark when he sees the deer in the headlights expression that is on Gallagher's face. He's no doubt shocked as shit to see Mickey sitting there next to his sister. Ian's mouth moves like he's trying to say something, but no words comes out.

Fiona can sense her brother's confusion and before it turns into distress, she pushes herself forward and gently touches her brother's hand. To her credit her look of hopelessness quickly vanishes when he flinches and a small smile is pasted on her face instead.

"Easy, it's okay. Mickey and I talked. We have an understanding." She gives her brother a reassuring smile and looks to Mickey for help.

Mickey clears his throat awkwardly. "Yeah, Gallagher. No need to freak the fuck out." Ian stops his fish out of water impression and just looks at the two of them.

No one says anything after that. Mickey's busy looking out the window. Then Fiona's phone beeps. She looks at it and sighs. "It's Kev. He's ready to kill Frank, I better get going. Have to make sure that he's clean for our appointment with DFS tomorrow," Fiona says.

Ian nods his head. "Good luck with that," he says in a tired voice. No doubt still feeling the after effects of the sedation.

"Thanks I'm gonna need all the luck I can get," Fiona says with a small smile. She leans and gently kisses her brother on his forehead, despite the noticeable flinch. At least this flinch wasn't as bad as the one before when she grabbed his hand. "Bye, Ian. Lip will probably be by later. Okay?"

Ian nods his head but says nothing else. On her way out Fiona stops and whispers to Mickey. "Make sure he stays calm. I don't need any more calls about him trying to get out of bed and hurting himself." She raises her eyebrow that silently says _you better not fuck this up._

Mickey nods his head in understanding. He definitely doesn't want a repeat performance of what happened yesterday. "Got it. He'll be fine."

Fiona must believe him because she says nothing else and gives him a small smile as she exits the room.

Mickey stays in the same position, with his feel still on Gallagher's bed. But, no one is talking, this isn't right. Gallagher's always rambling on about something. Mickey doesn't like this, but he can't bring himself to say anything at the moment and the silence remains. He and Ian haven't really talked since his father caught them and he basically threw Ian out of his house after he fucked that whore in front of him. Ian was too doped up the first time he saw them and the second time….well Mickey doesn't really want to think about that. He doesn't want to think of a pleading and hysterical Gallagher begging him and Lip not to do anything stupid. He doesn't want to think of how broken the redhead sounded when he begged the nurses not too touch him.

After several long minutes Mickey sees Ian hesitantly move his hand to rest on Mickey's outstretched leg. And it's that simple gesture that pushes Mickey to say something. If Gallagher can stand to touch him after he was fucked up in the worst possible way, then he can very well venture outside of his safety zone.

"You know that I didn't want to do that shit, right? I always act first, but when my dad walked in on us, I didn't do that. I knew what I had to do. Had to make my dad believe that you mean nothing to me," Mickey says. Fuck! He sounds like a fucking retard.

But, Ian still doesn't look at him. He's still playing with the hem of Mickey's pants leg. Putting all fears aside in one quick motion he swings his feet off the bed and stands up. Gallagher might freak out with what he's about to do, but he needs to make sure that the redhead gets what he's trying to say. He raises his hand and he can see Ian's body physically tense. Man he can't wait to beat the shit out of those fuckers. Because never before was Gallagher actually afraid of him. But, Ian quickly gathers himself together when he realizes that the hand belongs to Mickey. And Mickey is not gonna hurt him. When Mickey sees that the fear is no longer there in Ian's eyes, just like he did before when Gallagher was unconscious, Mickey gently cups the side of Ian's face. The unusual display of affection doesn't scare Gallagher off, instead he leans into it, almost as if trying to get some comfort from Mickey's touch.

"I know why you did it," Ian whispers as he looks up at the ex-con.

With those whispered words Mickey feel like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulder.

"But, it still doesn't make it any easier to hear," Ian explains.

"I know that, but I wanted to explain myself."

Ian attempts to give him a small smile, but stops when it pulls at the bruises and cuts on his face. "Thanks, I know that was hard for you."

And it was. Putting into words his reason for why he did what he did was probably one of the hardest things he's ever done. The two fall back into silence, but this time it's not filled with strange awkwardness. Mickey takes his seat again and puts his feet back up on Ian's bed, and the redhead rsumes playing with Mickey's pants.

"So, Fi knows now?" Ian starts cautiously.

Mickey nods his head. "Thank god my sister isn't as observant as yours is or we'll be in a shitload more trouble than we're already in."

The redhead looks at Mickey with wide eyes. Well, as wide as they can go since one is still basically swollen shut. Mickey can understand Ian's uneasiness since every time shit has hit the fan. Every time someone caught them, Mickey ran. He slowly inches forward and touches the hand that is still resting on his pant leg. Gallagher's hand tenses when the ex-con first touches his hand, but he relaxes when Mickey takes hold of his fingers and gently squeezes. "Relax, I'm not gonna run this time."

The smile comes to Ian's face is worth it all. It's worth the awkwardness of Lip cornering him at the Kash and Grab telling the ex-con that he knew about Mickey and his brother. It is worth the strange exchange between him and Fiona just a couple of hours ago when she admitted that she knew he and her brother were more than friends. And it was worth him telling Ian why he said and did what he did after his father caught them.

But, as good as it is to once again see the redhead smile, a pain hits Mickey. He doesn't know if he would have had the balls to go to Ian and say what he did if those douchebags didn't beat the shit out of and rape his Gallagher. He would like to hope that he would have had the balls to eventually go to Gallagher and make things right, but those asswipes took that opportunity away and now he, Ian, and the Gallagher's were left to pick up the pieces. But, he can't think about that right now. No, right now he's there with Gallagher, holding his hand and rolling his eyes at Gallagher's shit eating grin. Tomorrow he and Lip will kick some asses, but for the moment he's exactly where he needs to be.

**I know this chapter was a little shorter than the others, but I thought that it was the right place to end it. I hope you guys enjoyed the Ian/Mickey interaction. A little sneak peak for next chapter; Lip and Mickey will be taking care of business.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N1: This chapter has some heavy material. It will contain references to past rape/non-con. You guys have been warned.**

**A/N2: What's in italics takes place in a flashback.**

**Broken-Chapter 8**

Mickey feels like he's crawling out of skin. His plan to rain hell on the fuckers who put Gallagher in the hospital has been placed on the backburner for the last week. First, they had to make sure that Gallagher was out of the ICU and on the way to recovery because the doctors warned that another episode like the one he had with Mickey would seriously endanger his recovery. Luckily, since then Gallagher has not had any more episodes. His incisions were healing nicely and no infection. Hurdle one was cleared.

Then came hurdle number two. Lip told him (Mickey guesses that it was more Fiona than anything else) that they needed to wait until Fiona was awarded guardianship over the kids. The last thing that Fiona needed when she was trying to prove that she was a stable parental figure was Lip behind bars for beating the shit out of those who put his brother in the hospital. Yeah, that wouldn't look too good. But, three days ago the court finally got their shit right for once and Fiona is now the legal guardian of the younger Gallagher's. That should have been the final obstacle, but it wasn't.

The final obstacle that is putting a wrench into his plan to bring hell to those fuckers is sitting right in front of him acting like a stubborn fucking shit.

"Will you stop that and just fucking eat it already!" Mickey hisses at Ian for what has got to be the tenth time in twenty minutes.

Ian watches as what passes as soup according to the hospital's cafeteria slides off the spoon and back into the nearly full bowl of concealed chicken soup.

"When they give me actual food then I'll eat," Gallagher says with a scowl as he turns away from Mickey and looks out the window.

Mickey shakes his head. Why the fuck did he agree to be here for meal time? Oh, wait that's right. Because the redhead has ignored the attempts by his other siblings, Mandy, and the doctors to eat. Lip, the fucker, basically black mailed him saying that if Mickey didn't at least try and get Ian to eat then he was gonna run off and deal with the fuckers himself. Then Mickey would have to deal with a pissy Mandy and Ian. So, Mickey reluctantly agreed to try a hand in getting the redhead to eat.

"You do know, you're shitty eating habits is basically the only thing that is keeping you here?" Mickey says.

Ian looks the other way, towards the window. He knows that the ex-con is right. Over the last week and a half Ian has gotten significantly better. His face isn't as swollen and the bruises has faded to light blues, green, and there's even some patches of yellow peaking through. He has started physical therapy and is pretty mobile with his crutches. The concussion has cleared, just a headache and a bout of dizziness here and there. The only thing keeping him there is his stomach. Because it is still healing, the doctors don't want to release him until they're sure he can eat and that there are no complications. But, Ian hasn't eaten shit. Gallagher says it's the shitty food, but Mickey, Lip, and Fiona aren't fooled. The uneaten chicken noodle soup that Debbie made, mashed potatoes from the diner down the street, and even a forbidden cheeseburger that laid untouched are all signs that there's something more at work here. Mickey's clenches his hands into fists as he tries to reign in his frustration, not at Gallagher but at the situation they're in.

"_You need to do something to get him to fucking eat," Lip says as he barges into the Kash and Grab. "I don't want to know or care what you do, but you have to find a way to get him to eat."_

_Mickey looks up from the magazine he's reading at the counter. "I'm no nurse made. Maybe if that shithole gave him something halfway decent to eat then he would."_

_Lip shakes his head. "We tried. We snuck him in food. Hell, I even brought him in a fucking burger. Nothing. He won't eat."_

_Mickey looks at Lip confused. He won't even eat the food that his family snuck in. What the fuck is the problem?_

_Mickey rubs his lip with his thumb. "Is his stomach not healing right? Is it hurting him when he tries to eat?" The ex-con asks sincerely._

_Lip shakes his head. "Nah, Fiona has talked to Dr. Palmer. He says that everything is healing fine."_

_Then what the fuck is the problem then?_

_Lip runs his hand through his hair before he begins. "I think I know why he won't eat."_

_Mickey gestures with his hand. "Well, what the fuck is it, Gallagher?"_

_Lip swallows nervously. "When Tony told me about the DNA evidence he said that one of the evidence samples that had DNA on it was a swab taken from Ian's mouth," Gallagher says quietly, not looking directly at Mickey, but at the poster behind the ex-con._

_Mickey mouth struggles physically to keep down the burrito that he had for lunch that is trying to make a reappearance. The reason why Gallagher won't eat is perfectly clear now. "Fuck."_

And now Gallagher's refusal to eat is putting a major damper on his plans for the night. Mandy is over the Gallagher's for the night watching the younger ones because Fiona's douchebag of a boyfriend decided that a night out, away from the kids, is needed. Lip and he are supposed to be meeting up in the next hour so they can do what they need to. Everything is set. Well, almost everything.

"What do I need to do to get you to eat?" Mickey asks again. This time in a more patient tone. "What do you want to eat?"

Gallagher's still looking out the window into the summer sunset. It's going to be getting dark soon. He and Lip have someplace to be.

"Please, Gallagher. Just tell me," Mickey says, pleading. God, he can't believe that he sounds like that. But, he does thanks to what those fuckers did. Fucking up his Gallagher.

With those few heartfelt said words, Ian turns back to him. "I want you to stay the night," he says quietly.

Mickey isn't entirely surprised to hear the redhead's request. While his bruises are healing, newer ones are forming under his eyes. He heard Lip and Mandy talking the other day when they were over his house about how Ian has been sleeping for shit. He only gets a couple of hours of sleep before he wakes up drenched in sweat, clawing his sheets to get away from invisible threats. Gallagher's have all but begging everyone to stay well past visitor hours in hopes of staying awake. His lack of sleep and eating has been the cause of many conversations between the hospital medical staff and the older Gallagher siblings. According to Lip Fiona has been pretty steadfast about not drugging Ian to get him to sleep. But, when he talked to Lip this morning apparently Fiona is getting ready to give in to the doctors' suggestion if Ian doesn't get some halfway decent sleep soon.

Mandy will be over the Gallagher's. Two of his brothers are MIA. Another is in jail for violating his parole. His father is still out of town, apparently hooking up with some new bitch. Mickey can easily spend the night at the hospital and no one will know.

"Fine, but only if you eat something. I know that's not food," Mickey says as he points to the disgusting soup on the tray. "So, what do you want?"

Ian gives the older boy a small surprised smile. "Really? You will?"

Mickey rolls his eyes. "Yeah, your sister has been on my ass about getting you to eat." That part wasn't a lie. She did say something to her last night when they passed in the hallway when she was leaving and he was getting in. "If you don't eat something then she'll probably have security escort me out of here."

Mickey doesn't say that he wants to stay. That it'll be nice to be able to be there for Gallagher when the nightmares get too bad and tell him that those fuckers won't hurt him again because they can't. Because he took care of them.

"So what the fuck do you want?" Mickey asks again, trying to sound annoyed at the younger boy for not answering his question.

"Macaroni and cheese," Ian finally answers.

Mickey shakes his head, "That's what you want?"

Ian shakes his head. "Yeah. Are you gonna make it?"

Mickey snickers. "Fuck no. The goal is to get you to eat, not traumatize you from eating ever again after eating something I made."

That makes Ian laugh. A real laugh not a fake one that he's been using occasionally to pacify his family and Mandy. That makes Mickey feel good. He is doing something right. He is helping Gallagher.

Speaking of helping Gallagher. "Well, I'm gonna get going."

Ian's smile starts to turn into a frown.

Just as he's been doing since Ian has been in the hospital, Mickey gently touches the side of Gallagher's face. He can't bring himself to kiss him. They only did that once. And that just seems too personal after what Ian went through. So, he settles for this. Mickey can't help but feel happy when Ian barely flinches when he first touches the redhead's face. Just as the times before Ian leans into his touch.

"I'll be back in a bit. I'm gonna grab your food and take a shower."

That part is not a lie either. He is gonna get firecrotch his food and take a shower. He's just not gonna tell him what he's gonna do before he gets back with the food.

"Okay," Ian says quietly as he yawns.

Mickey gently taps the other boy's face before he moves his hand. "Try and get some sleep. You starting to look like shit, Gallagher."

Ian barks out a laugh. "Thanks for the compliment."

"You know I don't do compliments. Don't act so shocked." Mickey replies as he feels his phone in his pocket vibrate. Probably fucking Lip. "See you later."

"Later, Mick." Ian says as he closes his eyes as he turns away from Mickey trying to get into a more comfortable position that his injuries will allow.

Satisfied that Gallagher is settled for the time being, Mickey quickly makes his exit. As he's heading towards the elevator he looks at his phone. Sure enough it's a text from Lip.

_**Where the fuck r u**_

_**Thought we were doin this shit 2nite**_

Mickey calls Lip back.

"**I was started to think that I would have to do this shit by myself," Lip says.**

"Fuck you, I was with your brother."

**Lip remains quiet for a few seconds. "Did you get him to eat anything?"**

Mickey sighs. "I'm fucking working on it. Meet me at my place in an hour." Before Lip can reply, Mickey hangs up as he exits the hospital and starts to jog to the EL. He has a job to do.

**I know that I said that I was going to have Mickey and Lip going after Ian's attackers in this chapter, but this scene came to me and I wanted to roll with it. Plus, after the lack of Ian/Mickey in last week's episode I thought we could all use a good Ian/Mickey scene. I hope you guys like! Don't worry next chapter will definitely have some bad ass Lip and Mickey in it. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N1: Thanks again you guys. I hope you're enjoying reading this as much as I am writing it. A big thanks to all those who have reviewed, favorited, and alerted this. I'm sorry it took so long for me to get this update up, but this chapter gave me major problems. I must have rewritten certain parts three or four times and I'm still not entirely 100% sure I like the final product. Still, I hope you guys aren't too disappointed. **

**A/N2: Warning! This chapter does contain references to past rape/Non-con and violence. **

**Broken-Chapter 9**

"It's about fucking time," Lip says loudly as Mickey closes the door to his house.

"Shut it, Gallagher." Mickey bites back.

Lip gives him a beer as he looks Mickey up and down. "You showered?"

Mickey takes the offered beer and shrugs as the two of them start to walk down the stairs. He's also wearing a new pair of pants and shirt. He hopes that Gallagher hasn't noticed.

"My brother would be shocked as shit if he saw you like this," Lip says as he takes a sip of his own beer.

Mickey gives Lip the finger. "It's because of your brother that I'm dressed like this."

Lip raises his eyebrows, "Oh it is?"

Mickey stops to pick up the baseball bat and crowbar that are lying in his yard and hands them to the genius who places them in the duffle bag that is swung over his shoulder.

"Yeah if we're gonna trap those fuckers who put him in the fucking hospital, I have to look half way decent."

Lip nods his head but stops walking for a second, so does Mickey. "You sure you can do this?"

Mickey gives the other a _what the fuck look. _He's a fucking Milkovich. Beating the shit out of people is embedded somewhere deep in his DNA. "I know it's been a couple of weeks, but I haven't lost my touch. I still know how to bring a smack down"

Lip shakes his head. "Not that. I know you will have no problem beating the shit out of these fuckers. I'm talking about you going into the gay bar and baiting them. I know it's not exactly your scene."

Mickey isn't surprised that Lip has reservations about their plan. He has never really been comfortable with his sexuality. Ian is the type to go to gay bars, he is the one who usually runs from anything that would put his sexuality out into the open. But, for Ian he'll do this. He has to.

"Fuck off. What are you saying, that I'm not good enough to get the attention of a couple of assholes? What about your brother?"

Lip nearly spits out his beer, laughing.

"What the fuck is so funny, Gallagher?" Mickey huffs.

"Can I remind you about my brother's taste in men? Roger Spikey? Kash? Jimmy's fucking father? His taste in men is seriously fucked up."

Mickey is seriously considering punching Lip in the fucking face. His hands are clenching at his side. He needs to keep his anger in check because as much as an ass Lip is, he has a bigger score to settle. He needs to keep his eye on the prize. Besides, he can kick Lip's ass pretty much anytime. The other boy must have noticed the change in the ex-con's body language because he puts his hands up in a half ass gesture of surrender.

"No offense,"

"Fuck off, Gallagher." Mickey replies as they make their way to the car.

A beeping nose breaks the silence. Lip takes out a small device from his back pocket that looks like a PSP player.

"What the fuck is that?" Mickey asks as he takes a large sip of beer.

Lip touches something on the screen as he replies, "I rigged it to police radio signals. That way we know where the cops are."

Mickey nods his head. Lip is way too fucking smart. Before Lip gets in, Lip looks at Mickey over the top of the car. "You ready to do this?"

Mickey still feels uncomfortable when Gallagher flinches when he touches his bruised hand or face. He doesn't know what to say to him when the redhead stares off into space for minutes at a time. He sure as hell doesn't know what to do when Ian looks at him with sad eyes hoping that maybe the ex-con will say something to make this better. Like Mickey can even say anything that can make this situation better? He doesn't know how to react when Fiona gives him a small smile when she sees him, asking if maybe he can get her brother to eat something.

But this. Beating the shit out of someone for hurting what's his. That he can do. That is what he's good at. So, he gives Lip his patented smirk. "Fuck you, Gallagher. I've been waiting for a week to do this. You better not pussy out on me."

As he pulls the car door shut Lip smiles. "Let's do this."

**XXXXX**

Mickey feels his phone vibrating in his pocket while he's nursing his beer. It's only his third of the night for he has to be on his A-Game for when Verullo and the other two assholes make an appearance. Lip better be right. Those fuckers better show up. Over the last couple of days someone else was attacked just like Gallagher was, near another gay bar. Through some kind of convoluted analysis that Lip tried to explain to him the young genius is pretty sure that this is the next place they were gonna hit.

His phone vibrates again and the ex-con takes a quick look. Mickey curses under his breath when he sees it's another text from Lip.

**U see them yet.**

Mickey types back a hasty response. Gallagher needs to calm the fuck down. He's getting antsy too. This is way over due. But, they can't rush it. Mickey puts his phone away and goes to the bar to get another drink. The place is packed so he ends up having to wait way longer than he would have liked, just as he's about to say something totally nasty to the bartender that he swears is ignoring him, he feels a hand on his shoulder. He instantly tenses up. Fucking Gallagher knew the plan. Stay out of sight until he gets those fuckers drunk off their asses. Then they fuck them up. So this hand on him better not be Gallagher.

"What are ya drinking?"

Mickey turns to see that the voice does not belong to Gallagher. He swallows nervously as he looks into the face that is standing next to him. The same face that stared back at him when Lip showed him the mug shot of Joey Verullo. As quick as the sense of anxiety appears, Mickey puts it aside. This is what he came here to do.

In a steady, confident voice he answers "Jack."

Verullo nods his head as he signals the bartender over and places their drink order. "Yeah, I didn't picture you as type who would be knocking back cosmos or some other kind of pussy ass drink."

Mickey bites the inside of his lip to stop himself from spitting out, _you don't know shit about me. _But instead he says. "You here by yourself?"

Verullo nods his head towards a pretty boy who is talking up someone over on the other side of the bar. He gives Mickey a small smile as he takes a sip of his beer. "It's not like that. He's my friend, Kyle. We're not together, just friends."

_Like I give a fuck. _Instead Mickey gives him a smirk, definitely not a smile. He almost never smiles. Gallagher is the only one who has seen them on a few occasions when he actually did. And he sure as hell is never gonna give these assholes one. He finishes his drink in one large sip "Good."

Verullo motions with hand, "Come on let's go. I think we can have some fun tonight."

_I know I will. _Mickey says to himself, but he nods his head. "I'll be over in a second."

Verullo nods his head, "See you in a few."

With Verullo out of sight, Mickey takes out his phone and sends Lip a quick text.

**Got em.**

Mickey grabs another drink from the bar before he starts to make his way to where the assholes are standing. He takes a large sip of his drink. He can do this. He has to.

**XXXXX**

Fast forward about two hours. The two assholes in front of him are definitely hammered, but in their eyes so is Mickey. Mickey is way too loud, laughing at their stupid jokes, nodding enthusiastically when they talk about random shit like the Sox and the Blackhawks, stumbles one too many times as he goes to the bar. He adds his two cents in but has to swallow thickly when the two assholes talk about their own sexual exploits. How they like it rough.

But as he told himself earlier, theses fuckers don't know him. They don't know how he can drink almost anyone under the table. That he's playing them. He's not nearly as drunk as they are or as much as they think he is.

"I've had enough of this place. You ready to get out of here?" Kyle slurs drunkenly as he puts his arm around Joey.

"Where to?" Mickey asks, trying to sound nonchalant. This is the opening he's been waiting for.

"I know this place nearby," Verullo says. "I'll text my brother. He works at a bar nearby and just got off of work. He can meet us on the way."

Mickey nods his head. And that will be the third asshole who fucked Gallagher up. He nods his head in agreement. "Sounds good. Let me just hit the head before we head out."

"We're gonna do a quick shot then we'll meet you outside." Kyle says with a smile.

Mickey makes his way to the pisser while the other two make their way to the bar. Once he's in the bathroom he sends Lip a quick text telling him to get ready, that they're leaving in a few.

He then exits the bathroom and the bar, meeting Verullo and Kyle outside. He sees Lip standing off to the side watching them leave the bar. As the three of them are making their way down the street, Lip is hanging back keeping the three in sight. Mickey gives a genuine smile when he sees Kyle fall of the curb and takes a few seconds to get back up, with the help of Joey who nearly fell himself when he tried to help his friend up. About five minutes later they hear someone calling out to Kyle and Verullo.

"Hey, Matt!" Kyle calls out as Verullo's brother crosses the street to join them.

"This is Mickey," Joey says as he introduces his brother to the ex-con. "He decided to join us tonight for some fun."

Mickey gives him a tight smile as he puts out his hand to shake Matt's offered one. The red blush on Matt's cheeks tell Mickey that he too is drunk. This is gonna be way too easy. "Looking forward to it."

The other three laugh as they start walking again, unbeknownst to the other three that Mickey is actually leading them to an empty warehouse that he and Lip have already scouted out the night before.

"Perfect," Verullo says as they come a decrepit looking building. "This is exactly what I was thinking of."

Mickey gives him a drunken smirk. "I thought you might like it," as he enters the side door. Soon the other three follow him. As he's walking he can sense that the three behind him are silently talking to each other with their eyes. He wonders if Gallagher had any idea of what these assholes were thinking right before they fucked him up. He turns around and can see in the shadows that Lip has snuck into the building, just as they planned.

"Let's get this party started!' Mickey says enthusiastically.

"I've been waiting all night to do this," Verullo says with a quirk of his eyebrow. He smiles at his brother and Kyle as they all move towards Mickey. The ex-con can't help but shudder as he sees the hate and blood thirst in their eyes. He wonders for a second if that's the same look he gets in his eyes when he fucks some poor schmuck up. He takes a small step back as he clenches his fists, readying himself for the fight. The three predators' attention is fully on Mickey so they don't see Lip sneaking up behind them.

"Yeah, well I've been waiting over a week."

Kyle and Matt turn around after they hear Lip say those words. Whether it's from surprise or the effects of the alcohol in their systems, they are too slow to react. They don't stand a chance when Lip swings the baseball to Matt's knee first and then to Kyle's. They both holler out in pain as they crash to the floor. It's their screams that bring Joey's attention away from Mickey and towards his injured friend and brother on the ground.

"What the fuck?!" Joey yells.

With his back towards Mickey the ex-con pounces. He shoves Verullo hard to the ground and takes the crowbar that Lip is holding out to him. Without hesitation he slams the weapon hard onto Verullo's right knee. The sound of the bones crushing brings a huge smile to Mickey's face. The first real one in weeks. Before Gallagher got fucked up. He hasn't smiled like this since Gallagher and he were at his house watching movies on his couch, before his father caught them and everything went to shit.

"You fucked up the wrong person," Mickey hisses as Verullo holds his injured knee. He takes a hard swing at Verullo's ribs and laughs as he coughs harshly. As he watches Verullo try and catch his breath he looks over at Lip, happy with what he is seeing. Kyle is too drunk to put up any sort of fight. He is more or less just lying there holding his knee and ribs making these pathetic whimpering sounds. Lip seems to have more enjoyment fucking with Matt. He sees that the older boy is taking his time. Not hitting him in the head, that way the fucker can stay conscious as long as possible, feel as much pain as possible.

"Wh-which one?" Verullo stutters from the ground. Mickey turns his attention back to his task at hand.

"Gallagher." Mickey says as he gives a hard kick to Joey's back.

Joey hisses and spits out a mouthful of spit at Mickey. "Who?"

These fuckers don't even know the name of the person whose life he's fucked up. His family? His friends? Mickey's?

"The fucking redhead," Mickey replies with another hard kick to Joey's ribs. Another hard kick wracks Verullo's huddled frame. But this one isn't from Mickey. He turns to see that now Lip is now standing by his side. Mickey turns around and sees that the other two are out cold. _Good job, Lip. I guess you're not a big of a pussy as I thought you are._

Verullo starts to laugh. "Ohhh! You mean the one with the tight ass. He was the best I had. There's no way no one else has-"

Before he can even finish what he's about to say, Lip kicks Joey hard in the mouth sending blood and spit across the filthy ground. Mickey's breaths are harsh, coming in and out of his mouth unevenly. Tony said that Verullo's DNA was a sample that was taken from Gallagher, that he was actually in _his _Gallagher. Mickey knew what happened. But to actually hear it coming out of the fucker's mouth how he literally ripped Gallagher apart from the inside is too much. He can't hear this.

He comes out of his haze to hear Gallagher yelling in Verullo's face. "…think about going to the police. You think this is bad. This is nothing!"

"And stay the fuck away from firecrotch, got it? Or we'll come back and rip you fuckers piece by piece, got it?" Mickey spits out as he bends down as Lip did. When Verullo doesn't respond he punches him hard in the cheek. Lip delivers a punch of his own "Got it?"

Verullo shakes his head, but doesn't say anything.

Mickey grabs a few of Joey's fingers that are grabbing his injured knee. And the image of Gallagher's taped, broken fingers crosses his mind. He twists one harshly and once again the sounds of breaking bones full the silence of the abandoned warehouse. "I didn't hear you? We clear?"

Verullo nods his head earnestly. "We'll stay away from the redhead."

"And?" Mickey asks as he goes to grab another finger.

"We won't go to the cops!" Joey says quickly.

"Good," Mickey says as he stands up. "Now that we have come to an understanding, we'll get going now."

Lip gives him a questioning look. Mickey ignores it. "Just one last thing."

"What 's that?" Joey says, his voice cracking, from the ground.

"This." Mickey says as he kicks Verullo one last time, sending the fucker into unconsciousness. Lip gives him a smile of approval as he kicks Verullo one last time in the gut for good measure before the two make their way out of the warehouse.

The two of them fall into an easy silence as they walk to the car that Lip parked nearby. Lip gives him a rag from the duffle bag. "Here, clean yourself up. Don't think you want to have to explain to Mandy why there's blood all over your hands"

Mickey takes the offered rag. He really doesn't want to explain it to the hospital staff and Ian either. They both hop into the car once they reach it, Mickey behind the wheel. They head towards home, but Mickey has to make another stop first. Lip gives him a quizzical look when Mickey pulls up next to a diner.

"What the fuck? You wanna get something to eat after beating the shit out of those fucks?"

"Fuck off. I told your brother that I would get him something to eat before I go back to the hospital tonight," Mickey says.

Lip laughs. "Oh, you do have a heart."

Mickey gives Gallagher the finger as he exits the car. He normally would have hit Gallagher by now, but he's riding a high that only comes from a good smack down or a good fuck. Settling things the way he knows how has put him in too good of a mood that even Lip's smart ass comments can't ruin.

**I hope you guys liked this. Like I said I had a very difficult time writing it, hope I didn't disappoint. Don't worry there will be some Ian/Mickey in the next chapter **


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N1: I hope you guys are still with me. I actually had this as part of last chapter, but I decided it would fit better here.**

**A/N2: There will be references to past non-con in this chapter.**

**Broken-Chapter 10**

Mickey shyly puts his head down as he passes by the nurses' station at around midnight that night, with a bag of food from the diner across the street tucked under his arm.

"I'll let the fact that you're way past visiting hours go as long as that bag you're trying to sneak in has food in it and you're gonna actually get Ian to eat."

The ex-con looks up from the ground and sees Ian's night nurse, Lilly, eyeing him over the computer monitor.

"That's the plan," Mickey replies.

The nurse nods her head in approval. "Good, the last thing that Ian needs is the doctors putting a feeding tube in him."

Mickey involuntarily shutters at the thought. He starts to walk towards Ian's room when Lilly calls for him to stop. He turns and sees that she's no longer at the desk, but at a nearby cabinet. She's holding out a flimsy hospital blanket in her hand. "Here, take this since you're probably gonna be spending the night."

Mickey had thought that Lilly knew about him and Ian based on the knowing look she had in her eyes when she would come into Ian's room and see him there. But, that last statement confirmed it. He quickly grabs the blanket and all but runs to Gallagher's room before things could get any more awkward. As he enters his safe haven sounds of a rerun of Family Guy and Gallagher's heart monitor welcome him. As he gets closer to the bed he feels a sense of relief when he sees that Gallagher is actually sleeping peacefully for once. He knows that the redhead needs to eat, but he also needs the sleep. He figures that Lilly will be more than happy to reheat the food later so he decides to let Gallagher sleep. Mickey takes a seat and puts his feet up on the edge of Ian's bed, carefully avoiding the redhead's injured torso.

Content at the moment Mickey looks at his hands, at the bruised skin and smiles. Finally, things are starting to look up. Everything worked out as it should and those fuckers got what was coming to them. Mickey has to admit that Lip was right, those assholes didn't stand a chance. Yeah, they fucked up Gallagher big time but it was three against one and according to Lip, his brother's alcohol level was through the roof when he was brought into the ER nearly two weeks ago. It was a miracle in itself that he didn't have alcohol poisoning.

But tonight was different. This time it was two verses three. This time it was Joey, his brother, and Kyle hammered, fighting against one of Southside's most feared…and Lip. Granted, he had to give Gallagher props. He is a halfway decent fighter. And both had something on them that the other three didn't. They had their need for retribution. The fuckers didn't stand a chance. Mickey can't help but let out a small laugh.

Mickey leans back in his chair as he watches Gallagher's chest rise and fall in the pattern of sleep. The sounds of Gallagher's breaths, heart monitors, and Mickey's own contentment from beating the shit out of those fuckers create the perfect recipe that sends Mickey to sleep himself.

Far too quickly, Mickey is jerked awake. Before he can wipe the sleep out of his eyes he hears loud rustling and grunts. His legs are also shaking. What the fuck! His eyes fly open to see Gallagher violently tossing and turning, trying in vain to get away from threats that he can only see. Ian's face is red in frustration because even with all his effort he can't get away, his broken right leg essentially making his struggles in vain.

The last thing that Gallagher needs is to hurt himself again, especially now that things are finally started to look up. Mickey quickly stands up and moves closer to the bed. "Gallagher! Stop it!" But, the redhead isn't hearing anything and is moving frantically away from Mickey. His grunts of frustration at not being able to get away from threats that he can only see, continue. Just as the ex-con is finally able to get a hand on Ian, the younger boy claws at him.

Mickey's hand instantly flies to his cheek in pain as he steps away from Gallagher. "Fuck Gallagher! Knock the shit off!"

Still, Ian is not hearing it. Mickey moves back to the side of the bed. "Where the fuck are the nurses?!" he hisses. "They're paid to deal with this shit!" He feels like he's one of those people who stand and watch in sick fascination at a horrific car crash. But, he's not. He's standing there watching as Ian continues to thrash, scratch, and grunt against something that he can only see.

He stands there dumfounded for a minute, either to wait for Gallagher to wake the fuck up, the nurses to finally come in here and calm Ian down, or maybe for him to get some clue as to what to do next. But none of that matters when Gallagher's grunts turns into whimpers and the thrashing turns into shaking and he brokenly pleas, "Pl- please, don't."

Those two words push Mickey back into action. He bites his bottom lip as he leans over Gallagher's shaking form and he gently places his hand on the side of Gallagher's face. He ignores the noticeable flinch and he curses to himself, he thought they were over that. Up to this point Gallagher has been getting better when someone touches him. Still, the ex-con is not deterred as he keeps his hand in place and in a gentle voice that he didn't even know he was capable of using he soothes, "Easy, Gallagher. You're okay. Those fucks can't hurt you."

A small smile of satisfaction reaches Mickey's face because he knows that last part is true. Those fucks won't be able to hurt Gallagher anytime soon.

His words have the desired effect as Gallagher stops whimpering, and he sleepily opens his eyes. "Mickey?"

"I'm sorry!" Lilly exclaims as she rushes in and Mickey lets his hand fall from Gallagher's face.

Too little too late,Mickey thinks himself.

"Another patient in a room down the hall was having some problems," she explains as she moves towards Ian's bed, taking his vitals.

Like Gallagher having a full blown fit wasn't an emergency.

"Okay, Ian. Your heart rate is a little high but that's expected after a having a nightmare." After she finishes writing down what she needs to in his chart, she turns to Ian. "You want something to help you sleep?"

Gallagher's exhausted eyes get owlishly big, "No! I don't want anything."

Lilly shakes her head. "I think you should take something. I can have the doctor give you something light that way you can wake up if you want to. You won't be completely snowed under."

Gallagher shakes his head defiantly. "I don't want anything. What time is it?"

Confused, Mickey looks at the digital clock on the television. "It's almost ten of one."

"See!" Gallagher exclaims. "I've slept for almost five hours. That's the longest I've slept on my own since I got here."

Lilly bites her lip as if she's dissecting Gallagher's claim. "Fine. You are right. You haven't slept this long since you were unconscious after the last time you came out of surgery. I know that you really don't want to be on sleep meds, with all the pain meds you're on. I can say something to your sister about how you're sleeping more on your own. But, you have to do me a favor?"

Both the ex-con and the redhead look at the nurse quizzically.

"Mickey brought something for you to eat. I'll reheat it for you and you're gonna eat it," Lilly bargains.

Gallagher looks down and begins to play with his hospital blanket. "I'm not really hungry," he says quietly.

Lilly shrugs her shoulders. "Tough shit. Either you eat or Mickey will have to leave."

Mickey gives the nurse a death glare, "You're a fucking evil bitch."

She gives s me a smirk. "Just because I'm not from Southside doesn't mean that I don't know how to be a cruel bitch."

Mickey nods his head in appreciation. He knew he liked Lilly for a reason.

As quick as her attitude came, it vanishes. She bends down slightly so she's closer to the redhead. "Listen Ian, we just want you to get better and get you out of here. To do that you need to eat and sleep. You slept pretty good tonight up until now, but your lack of eating is really scaring your family. Do you think you can at least try and eat some? Mickey can stay."

Ian doesn't look up from playing with his the thin hospital blanket, but he does quietly respond, "I'll try some."

Lilly gives both him and Mickey a huge smile. And Mickey can't help but give a small smirk. This is progress. Gallagher hasn't even said he would try eating, he would purely ignore any attempts when it came to eating and discussing food.

"Okay then, I'm gonna go heat this up," Lilly says as she rushes out of the room with the macaroni and cheese in her hands. Probably afraid that Gallagher will change his mind if she didn't move fast enough.

With the nurse out of the room, Gallagher says "I don't want anything to help me sleep."

Mickey's eyes go huge for the second time that night. Gallagher hasn't really imitated conversation since he landed in the hospital. That is part of what unnerved Mickey so much. Gallagher is always the one talking, rambling on about crap that normally the ex-con wouldn't give two shits about. But, not now. That is why Mickey eggs on the younger boy at the moment. Gallagher must have something he wants to say.

"I get that. You said it enough times. I just don't get why. People in our neighborhood would be happy as shit if they could get what these quacks are more than happy to give you."

"It's not just that. It's hard for me to wakeup when I'm under." He stops for a few seconds before he continues. "I don't want Fiona to tell the docs to dope me up."

Mickey can understand the part about not being able to wake up, but the part about Fiona doping him up? He raises his eyebrow in confusion.

Even with his head still looking down, Gallagher must have seen or he knows the ex-con too well. "Everyone has taken every choice away from me, Social services taking us away…." Gallagher doesn't finish what he's about to say, but Mickey knows what the other is talking about. They both had no choice when his father caught the two of them, well no real choice that didn't end up with both of them dead. And Gallagher sure as had no choice when those fuckers ra-attacked him.

"I don't want that anymore. I don't want Fiona deciding that I should be doped up like some drooling mess," Gallagher finishes quietly.

Mickey feels stupid. Gallagher has had little if any choice in shit over the last couple of months. Of course the redhead wants to hold on to at least one thing he can.

"That won't happen. I'll get your sister to back off," Mickey says confidently.

Gallagher finally raises his head and makes eye contact with the older boy. "You will?"

Mickey snickers. "Yeah, your sister and I get along pretty okay now that she knows we're banging. Probably happy that I'm not some fucking pedophile that you used to fuck."

Before anyone can say anything else Lilly comes in with the macaroni and cheese, "Here you go, Ian. Eat up." She quickly leaves, leaving the two boys alone.

And for the second time that night, Mickey smiles. He tries to place his hand in front of his mouth to hide it, but he's pretty sure that Gallagher can see it. But, this times it's not at the sound of bones breaking, but at Gallagher finally taking a bite of food. He hopes that all of Gallagher's attention is on his food because how the fuck can he explain why he's grinning like a stupid fucking school girl? Fuck!

**I hope you guys liked it. I tried to keep the characters as much in character as I can, but this is some very emotional stuff. **

**Chapter !2 Preview:** Ian is coming home pretty soon and Mickey and Fiona have a little talk.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shameless.**

**A/N: I'm sooooo sorry it took so long to update. Things have been crazy as of late and I have had a bad case of writer's block. Not a good combination, but it seems like things are finally starting to change. Enjoy!**

**Broken-Chapter 11**

Mickey awkwardly moves his weight from one leg to the other as he stares at the door in front of him, hesitantly putting up his hand to knock and then quickly puts it back down again. He has felt like a dead man walking ever since he got a text from Lip earlier saying that Fiona wanted to see him. What the hell did she want? Did she figure out what he and Lip did last night? Is she gonna rip him a new one for putting her genius brother in jeopardy of losing his chance to get the fuck out of this shithole?

Or did she smarten up and come to the realization of what he already knew. That her brother is way too good for Mickey and that Mickey is only gonna destroy him. He doesn't need to hear what he already knows so he turns to leave and is about half way down the stairs when he hears, "Mickey? Why the hell are you standing out here?"

He turns around and sees Fiona standing in the doorway with the youngest Gallagher perched on her hip. "Come in," she motions with her hand as she moves to the side to let the ex-con in.

_Fuck it. _What's the worse that she can say? Can't be any worse than the cruel words that his father spews at him on a regular basis. So he lets her lead the way into the kitchen and stands by the back door restlessly, so he can bail quickly just in case she decides to unleash her anger at him for not only fucking up the life of one of her brothers, but two.

Fiona places the toddler in the highchair and goes over to the fridge. With her back towards the ex-con she asks "Wanna drink? Juice? Soda? Beer?"

Mickey scrunches his eyebrows in confusion. Even though Fiona knows about him and her brother he never pictured her as a type to actually act halfway decent towards him. He shakes his head but then realizes that she can't see him with her back towards him. "Nah, I'm fine."

She turns around and shrugs her shoulders, "Suit yourself."

The two stare at each other for a minute. Mickey sure as hell doesn't know what to say. She's the one who invited him over. Fuck, he wishes Lip was there so he can make an assholeish comment to him and save him from this awkward as fuck silence. He's about to say that he has to get going when he hears Fiona clearing her throat. "Umm, Mickey?" She stops for a second before she goes on to say in a rush, "Thanks for last night."

Last night? Damn, she does know. "You know about that?"

Fiona nods her head and gives him a chuckle, "Of course, I do. Lilly had to work a double so she was still there when I went in this morning. She told me how you spent the night and Ian actually got some sleep. She also told me that he finally ate something."

Mickey bods his head and brushes it off like it was nothing.

Fiona gives him a smile as she takes out two beers. She places one in front of the ex-con. "I mean it, Mickey. Thank you."

This is something new. Someone actually giving him booze and thanking him. He's not gonna object and opens the beer.

"So, Terry's still out of town?" Fiona asks as she takes a sip of her own beer.

Mickey nods his head and starts playing with the label of his beer bottle. Over the last week or so he has been able to live in a bubble, free from the threat of his father and brothers finding out that he has been around Gallagher. Hell, not only has he been around Gallagher but he did some serious fucking harm to the fucks that landed Ian in the hospital. He knows that this little reprieve will come to an end when his family gets back into town, but for the moment he was okay with the way things are. But, now that Fiona has brought his family up his little bubble has popped, or at least started to deflate. When his father gets back into town he's gonna have to stay the fuck away from Gallagher. He's gonna have to go back to numbing himself with booze, drugs, and meaningless sex with girls. He doesn't even want to think of the effect of him ignoring Gallagher will have on the redhead after everything that has happened. He takes a sip of beer that has somehow turned bitter.

"I can fix that," Fiona says.

Mickey starts to laugh nervously. She must have started drinking well before he got there to say something stupid like that. How the hell can Gallagher's sister fix this mess? Sure she has done a pretty okay job basically raising her siblings and granted their parents are no picnic with a drunk like Frank and a bat shit crazy mother like Monica. But, they are still no Terry who pistol whipped his own son and forced him to have sex with a Russian hooker to fuck the faggot out of him. His laugh turns into something maniacal when he sees the deadly serious look on her face. She's not fucking joking.

"Really? What can you do? Call the cops, telling them that he violated his parole. My father has a habit of getting out of trouble and when he finds out who fucked him over they're dead," Mickey replies.

Fiona doesn't seem fazed. "You know Jimmy?"

Mickey nods his head.

"You know that he's married to some Brazilian drug pin's daughter?"

Reluctantly Mickey nods his head again. Sadly, he knows this too. One time after he and Gallagher smoked a shitload of his good weed, Gallagher got more talkative than usual. Telling him how his sister wears her heart on her sleeve and took Jimmy back even after he lied to her, was living a double life, took off on her, only to return with a wife in tow. The redhead thought that Jimmy was only going to break her heart again. As he took in what firecrotch was saying all he could think of is that the Gallagher's have some sort of fault that's embedded in them that allows them to let people who fucked them over on a continuous basis back into their lives. And recent events just further prove this.

"Her family does a lot of business up in Milwaukee. I can have Jimmy put in a word to his father-in-law. Your father won't be a problem anymore," Fiona explains.

Mickey starts to laugh again. The confused look on Fiona's face only makes him laugh even harder. Then her confused look turns to one of anger. A look that Mickey has seen on his Gallagher when he stared down Kash after he shot last year. She's really fucking serious.

"You fucking serious?" Mickey asks.

The cold look in her eyes tells him her answer before any words can. "I'm completely serious, Mickey. My brother's gonna need you. I can't stand here and say that I understand how you have helped him. But, I can see that you do. You're there for him when he needs you. You got him to eat. You have been able to keep him calm when no one else has. But, I'm not stupid. I know that when your father gets back into town you won't be able to be there for him."

Mickey doesn't say anything. She's right. There's no use in arguing what he already knows. When his father gets back into town there's not gonna be any more late night visits to the hospital. Texts exchanges between him and Lip about the redhead's well being. He's gonna have to once again cut himself out of Gallagher's life. Just the thought of leaving Gallagher all alone after all he's been through sends a spike of fear through Mickey.

"I know that there's nothing that I can do personally to keep your father away. But, Jimmy's wife's family can. I can have Jimmy call in a favor to his father-in-law. No questions asked. It's up to you, just say the word," Fiona finishes as she takes a sip of her beer.

Should he take the chance that Fiona's boyfriend's wife father can take care of his father? Damn never thought that he would say that sentence. If by some chance that the Brazilian drug dealer did succeed could he handle being in debt to Fiona? But the thought of being Terry free was pretty inviting. And from what he heard from Gallagher, the Brazilian was pretty legitimate.

"So what do you say?" Fiona asks. "Do you take me up on my offer?

Mickey takes a large gulp of beer. "Do it."

A small smile spreads across Fiona's face. And Mickey can't help but smile as well, a real smile. What's the worse than can happen? His father already caught them. Beat the shit out of the two of them. Made Gallagher watch as he fucked that Russian skank. But the worse was those long day after when he stayed away from Gallagher, tried everything possible to make him forget that look on Gallagher's face when he yelled those cruel words at him as Gallagher ran out his front door. And in that instant he knows that he made the right decision by taking Fiona up on her offer. For leaving Gallagher again, when he was this broken would be far worse than anything his father could do to them.

"Jimmy's on his way home. I'll talk to him about it when he gets here," Fiona says.

Mickey nods his head because he really doesn't think that there's anything else left to say. "Let me get the fuck out of here. Got some shit to do." Fiona doesn't need to hear about he's gonna get some beers and get completely wasted to celebrate that he's soon going to be free from his father's horrors.

Fiona nods her head as he stands up and goes to the backdoor. Just as he's about to leave Fiona calls his name, "Mickey, thanks again. For everything."

Mickey turns around with a confused look. "Everything?"

Fiona nods her head. "For everything. Being there for my brother."

Mickey nods his head and turns to leave again.

"Oh and by the way. Tony came by the hospital earlier and told me that three people were admitted to St. Mary's ER. Had the crap beat out of them. Two of theirs DNA match the samples that were found on Ian. Lip didn't seem particularly surprised when Tony told us this."

Fuck! Is this when the other shoe's gonna drop? "It really is a small fucking world."

Fiona smiles. "Yeah, it is."

"Fiona! I'm home!" Calls a voice front the living room as the front door closes. It's a voice that doesn't belong to any of the Gallagher's. It must be Jimmy. Before things can get any weirder, Mickey is out the door. As he closes the door he can Fiona tell Jimmy that she has a favor to ask him. Mickey smirks as saunters away from the Gallagher's house. He has to pick up Gallagher some icecream. He promised that redhead he would when he left the hospital before the sun rose. He's in no particular hurry though for the first time in god knows how long, he has all the time of the world.

**I'm so sorry that it took so long to update. I know this seemed like a filler chapter, but I wanted to get Terry out of the way and I thought that this spin was al little different than what we usually see in other Shameless fics. Hope you guys are still with me!**

**Chapter 12 Preview: **Mandy visits Ian in the hospital.


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